{"nrhp_refnum":"72000130","name":"Griswold, Maj. Joseph, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Upper St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Buckland","county":"Franklin County","state":"MA","lat":42.590076097000065,"lon":-72.79121304199998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-02-23","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Federal style brick house on Upper Street in Buckland, Franklin County, Massachusetts, built in 1818 for Major Joseph Griswold and based on designs in Asher Benjamin's pattern books.","why_significant":"The house is a fine example of Federal style architecture in rural Massachusetts and one of the earliest brick houses in the Buckland area. Its primary significance is its association with Mary Lyon, who held her school for girls in the third floor ballroom from 1824 to 1829, before she opened Mount Holyoke Seminary.","narrative":"Perched on a hill on the west side of Upper Street in Buckland, this brick house was built in 1818 for Major Joseph Griswold. Its design follows patterns published by Asher Benjamin, producing a simple rectangular Federal style block with a five-bay front laid in Flemish bond, marble lintels, a fanlight doorway and a delicate boxed cornice. A one and one half story wooden ell, where Griswold sold cheese, rum, apples and furniture he made, adjoins the northwest corner. The bricks were made from clay dug in an adjacent field. Griswold built a third floor ballroom that served as a community assembly hall. In 1824 he offered it to Mary Lyon, who was trying to found a school for girls with a curriculum equal to that of boys' schools. She taught there until 1829, and in 1837 she opened Mount Holyoke Seminary, later Mount Holyoke College. The house is valued both as architecture and for this link to women's education.","period_of_significance":"1818 (19th Century)","architect_builder":"Major Joseph Griswold (builder/owner); designs after the pattern books of Asher Benjamin","architectural_style":"Federal","criteria":[],"status_note":"Private residence in good condition, occupied; listed as altered and on its original site.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.58482-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/21/7951/63795121/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/72000130.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000130/ab284aab7e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000130/ab284aab7e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BucklandMA_GriswoldHouse.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Magicpiano</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BucklandMA_GriswoldHouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795121","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maj._Joseph_Griswold_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6737289"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/franklin-county/griswold-maj-joseph-house-72000130/"}