{"nrhp_refnum":"72000862","name":"Blackwell House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Welfare Island","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.76052770000007,"lon":-73.95098860399997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-02-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A modest two-story wood-frame farmhouse with an attic and two lateral wings, located on Welfare Island (formerly Blackwell's Island) in the East River, New York City. Tax records indicate it was built between 1796 and 1804 for James Blackwell.","why_significant":"The house preserves a good deal of its original fabric, including the basic framing, a handworked cornice, two entrance doors, and an original first-floor plan. It is described as the only surviving indication that the island, like most of Manhattan, was once open country, and as New Yorkers' earliest English-American style farmhouse still on its original site with enough surrounding land to keep its scale and setting.","narrative":"Built between 1796 and 1804 during James Blackwell's residence, this frame farmhouse sits on Welfare Island in the East River, an island once known as Blackwell's Island after the family that owned it for nearly a century and a half. The main block is two stories plus an attic, five windows wide, with a small kitchen wing at the southwest and a larger wing at the northeast that was in place by 1857. Later porticoes were added on two sides. Much original material survives, including the hand-hewn framing with incised Roman numeral assembly marks, wide floorboards, the handworked cornice, the entrance doors and some window trim. The first-floor plan is original or only slightly changed. The island's later use for a prison, an asylum and sanatoriums kept dense development away, leaving this farmhouse on its original site with enough surrounding land to convey its scale and setting. It was unused and awaiting restoration at the time of listing.","period_of_significance":"1796-1804","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in fair condition and altered; unoccupied and unused pending restoration. A long southeast porch has collapsed and awaits restoration.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:39.819624-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/72000862.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000862/1075ff01ed-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000862/1075ff01ed-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Jim.henderson","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blackwell_House_RI_jeh.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jim.henderson</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blackwell_House_RI_jeh.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319299","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwell_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4923596"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/blackwell-house-72000862/"}