{"nrhp_refnum":"70000731","name":"Sears, David, House","other_names":["Somerset Club"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"42 Beacon St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.35707974400006,"lon":-71.06675044498024,"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 granite town house at 42 Beacon Street, Boston, first built in 1816 for David Sears to designs by Alexander Parris, and now occupied by the Somerset Club, a private men's club.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as an early and outstanding example of a monumentally scaled Adamesque-Federal town house built of granite, one of the first in Boston to use that material. Parris turned the restrictions of granite into an opportunity for an original, basic classicism. Carved granite panels by Solomon Willard enlivened the facade.","narrative":"Built in 1816 at 42 Beacon Street in Boston, the David Sears House is a granite town house designed by architect Alexander Parris. It was one of the first houses in the city built of granite. Originally two stories over an elevated basement, it had a seven-bay south facade with a central bow crowned by a saucer dome, and carved granite swag panels by Solomon Willard between the window tiers. Around 1824 David Sears nearly doubled the house, adding a second matching bow, widening the facade to ten bays and moving the entrance to the east end. In 1875, after the Somerset Club acquired it, a third story and a gable roof were added and the first two floors were renovated. Service quarters were added at the rear around 1900. The nomination values the house as an early, monumentally scaled Federal-style granite residence. It remains in excellent condition as a private men's club.","period_of_significance":"19th Century (specific dates 1816, 1824)","architect_builder":"Alexander Parris (architect); Solomon Willard carved the exterior granite panels","architectural_style":"Adamesque-Federal","criteria":[],"status_note":"In excellent condition; used as a private men's club and not open to visitors.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.935709-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/31/7938/63793831/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/70000731_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000731/8b4d871e2d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000731/8b4d871e2d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Adam Lenhardt","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:David_Sears_House_05Feb2008.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Adam Lenhardt</a>, <a href=\"https://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:David_Sears_House_05Feb2008.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/63793831","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Sears_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5239621"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/sears-david-house-70000731/"}