{"nrhp_refnum":"72000948","name":"Smallwood, Eli, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"524 E. Front St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New Bern","county":"Craven County","state":"NC","lat":35.11114217800008,"lon":-77.03594604699998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-12-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick, side-hall plan Federal-style town house at 524 East Front Street in New Bern, Craven County, North Carolina, built about 1810 for Eli Smallwood. It rises two-and-a-half stories above a brick cellar, with gardens running back to the Neuse River.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is the finest expression of the Federal style in New Bern, a town where that style reached a level unmatched in North Carolina. Its hand-carved ornament on the cornices, porches, dormers and interior woodwork is exceptionally rich and well executed. The ornament is probably the work of the craftsman John Dewey.","narrative":"Built about 1810 for Eli Smallwood on a former tanyard lot bought in 1807, this brick town house at 524 East Front Street in New Bern is regarded as a showpiece of the Federal style. It has a side-hall plan, Flemish bond brickwork, four pedimented dormers and a gable roof, and it sits on a brick cellar with gardens reaching the Neuse River. Hand-carved cable, dentil and modillion ornament appears on the cornices, the porches and the dormers. The front porch and its fanlight transom are described as the best preserved of their type in the city. Inside, a wide hall with an elliptical transverse arch frames the stair, and the parlors and upper chambers have carved mantels, overmantels and chair rails. The form suggests the joiner John Dewey as the likely designer and builder, noting similarities to his work in the Masonic Theater lodge room. During the Civil War the neighboring house served General Foster, and the property later passed through the Thomas and Jones families.","period_of_significance":"19th Century (c.1810)","architect_builder":"Possibly John Dewey (designer and builder, favored by the form); Martin Stevenson, Sr. is named as another possibility","architectural_style":"Federal","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in excellent condition, altered, on its original site, and used as a private residence; the form says restoration was completed by the mid-1930s.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:56.317107-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/90/7196/47719690/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/72000948.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000948/f676d26341-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000948/f676d26341-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Tradewinds","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eli_Smallwood_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:Eli_Smallwood_House.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719690","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Smallwood_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18158094"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/craven-county/smallwood-eli-house-72000948/"}