{"nrhp_refnum":"71000091","name":"Bellamy, Edward, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"91-93 Church St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicopee Falls","county":"Hampden County","state":"MA","lat":42.15595101400007,"lon":-72.58377471443768,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1971-11-11","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1971-11-11","areas_of_significance":["Literature"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story white clapboard house with a gable roof at 91-93 Church Street, Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, home of author Edward Bellamy from 1852 until his death in 1898. It was later enlarged and divided into two dwellings.","why_significant":"The house is associated with Edward Bellamy, whose novel Looking Backward (1888) sparked a nationwide political movement and became a classic of American literature. His family moved in during 1852 and, apart from periods away, it remained his home until he died. The form says it retains its essential character despite alterations.","narrative":"This two-story white clapboard house at 91-93 Church Street in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, was the long-time home of author Edward Bellamy. His family moved in during 1852, when he was an infant, and apart from periods away it remained his residence until his death in 1898. Bellamy is best remembered for Looking Backward (1888), a novel set in a transformed future America that drew a huge readership, inspired Bellamy Clubs and fed a country-wide political movement called nationalism. He later wrote its sequel, Equality (1897), while living here despite failing health. The house has a three-bay front with a pedimented cornice, a porch with turned columns, and a wing to the south. After the family sold it in 1905, a photographer divided it into two dwellings, replaced a rear barn with a garage and added a studio extension. Even so, the form finds that it keeps its essential character as a memorial to a influential nineteenth-century writer.","period_of_significance":"19th Century","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in good condition and occupied as a private residence, divided into two dwellings; altered but with an essentially unaltered plan of the main rooms.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.758207-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/11/7937/63793711/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/71000091_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000091/0719e1701e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000091/0719e1701e-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"National Park Service","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edward_Bellamy_House_Chicopee_Falls_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">National Park Service</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edward_Bellamy_House_Chicopee_Falls_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63793711","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bellamy_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3206173"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/hampden-county/bellamy-edward-house-71000091/"}