{"nrhp_refnum":"72000145","name":"Crowninshield House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"164 Marlborough St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.35264393400007,"lon":-71.07870855099998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-02-23","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-story red brick townhouse at 164 Marlborough Street, Boston, at the southwest corner of Marlborough and Dartmouth Streets, designed by H.H. Richardson in 1868 and completed in 1870.","why_significant":"It was Henry Hobson Richardson's first domestic design and, with Trinity Rectory, is one of two surviving houses he designed in Boston. It is valuable for comparative study of the development of his Richardson Romanesque style. Much of the original interior woodwork and paneling survives.","narrative":"Built between 1868 and 1870 at the corner of Marlborough and Dartmouth Streets in Boston, this red brick house was designed by Henry Hobson Richardson. It rises four stories, including a full-story mansard roof, with brownstone lintels and a brownstone water table above a rusticated brick foundation. A two-story entrance pavilion is topped by an elaborate brick parapet with small wrought iron panels, and bands of black brick, tiles and a stringcourse mark the Dartmouth Street wall. That side features a large chimney face joined to the facade by curved brick planes, an idea Richardson used again about ten years later at Trinity Rectory. The house was his first domestic commission and is one of two of his Boston houses that survive. It allows direct comparison with later works such as Sever Hall and the Stoughton House, showing how his style matured. Much original interior woodwork and paneling remains. The building is in excellent condition and is occupied.","period_of_significance":"1868-1870","architect_builder":"H.H. Richardson (architect)","architectural_style":"American or Richardson Romanesque","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition is marked excellent, with some interior alterations; the form marks the property as occupied.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.317862-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/10/7967/63796710/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/72000145.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000145/d9e4619aab-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000145/d9e4619aab-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"M2545","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:164MarlboroughSt_1.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">M2545</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:164MarlboroughSt_1.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"73001948","name":"Back Bay Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/back-bay-historic-district-73001948/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796710","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowninshield_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5189564"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/crowninshield-house-72000145/"}