{"nrhp_refnum":"72000934","name":"Blades House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"602 Middle St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New Bern","county":"Craven County","state":"NC","lat":35.11118434400004,"lon":-77.03879964699996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-01-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-a-half-story Queen Anne style frame dwelling at 602 Middle Street in New Bern, Craven County, North Carolina, completed in 1903 for lumber businessman W. B. Blades and designed by Herbert W. Simpson.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the house as a tour de force of the Queen Anne style, with woodwork craftsmanship that has few equals. It is the only survivor of three large Queen Anne mansions built in New Bern. It also reflects the city's lumber-driven economic boom around 1900.","narrative":"Completed in 1903 at 602 Middle Street in New Bern, the Blades House is a two-and-a-half-story frame Queen Anne dwelling on a brick foundation. Its exterior is a lively mix of turrets, bow and bay windows, round-headed and circular dormers and paneled chimney stacks, wrapped by a one-story porch with Corinthian columns. Inside, about thirty-eight rooms surround a central stair hall with a massive brick fireplace and a grand staircase. Woodwork includes walnut, mahogany, birds-eye maple and carved oak, and much of the original furniture remains. Lumber executive W. B. Blades hired Herbert W. Simpson, better known then as an undertaker, to design it, and his companies supplied pine, mahogany, oak and maple. The house reflects New Bern's lumber boom around 1900. It is the only survivor of three large Queen Anne mansions built in the city and is still lived in by the family for whom it was built.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Herbert W. Simpson (architect); lumber supplied by the Blades companies","architectural_style":"Queen Anne","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in excellent condition, unaltered, on its original site, and still used as a residence by the family for whom it was built.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:58.24193-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/46/7197/47719746/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/72000934.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000934/ca35b18ff3-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000934/ca35b18ff3-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Tradewinds","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blades_House.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Tradewinds</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:Blades_House.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719746","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blades_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4923764"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/craven-county/blades-house-72000934/"}