{"nrhp_refnum":"70000539","name":"Otis, (First) Harrison Gray, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"141 Cambridge St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.36149982300003,"lon":-71.06458694196797,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1970-12-30","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1970-12-30","areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story brick Federal-period town house at 141 (listed as 1410) Cambridge Street in Boston, Massachusetts, designed by Charles Bulfinch and built in 1795-96 for lawyer-politician Harrison Gray Otis.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it the prototype of the five-bay, three-story brick Adamesque urban mansions built in New England during the Federal period. Its interiors are also described as one of the earliest instances of Adam influence in New England.","narrative":"Built in 1795-96 on Cambridge Street in Boston, this three-story brick house was designed by architect Charles Bulfinch for the lawyer and politician Harrison Gray Otis. It is about 48 feet wide and 32 feet deep, five bays across, with Flemish bond brickwork, a low hip roof and a chimney at each end. Inside, a wide center hall divides the rooms, and the second-floor drawing room has Adam-style mantels and door entablatures. Bulfinch drew his plan from the William Bingham House in Philadelphia. The house is regarded as the prototype for the five-bay, three-story brick mansions built across New England in the Federal period, and its interiors are among the region's earliest examples of Adam influence. Otis sold it in 1801. After heavy nineteenth-century alteration, the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities bought it in 1916 and restored it in stages. The house was moved back 40 feet in 1926 when the street was widened. It now operates as a furnished museum.","period_of_significance":"1795-96","architect_builder":"Charles Bulfinch (architect)","architectural_style":"Federal / Adamesque","criteria":[],"status_note":"Excellent condition; open to visitors as a furnished historic house museum, with further restoration under way at the time of the form.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.702482-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/29/7938/63793829/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/70000539_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000539/e288a79121-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000539/e288a79121-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Daderot","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1st_Harrison_Gray_Otis_House.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Daderot</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1st_Harrison_Gray_Otis_House.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"66000130","name":"Beacon Hill Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/beacon-hill-historic-district-66000130/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63793829","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Harrison_Gray_Otis_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19564302"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/otis-first-harrison-gray-house-70000539/"}