{"nrhp_refnum":"72000954","name":"Tisdale-Jones House","other_names":["New Bern City Schools Administration Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"520 New St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New Bern","county":"Craven County","state":"NC","lat":35.110043810000036,"lon":-77.04228200799997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-04-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-a-half-story frame house at 520 New Street in New Bern, Craven County, North Carolina, made up of a center-hall main block and a large rear ell, built in the 18th century and used since 1958 as school board offices.","why_significant":"The house is tied to the founding of St. John's Masonic Lodge and was owned by early leaders in law and politics, including silversmith William Tisdale, who may have engraved the first great seal of North Carolina there. Its Federal interiors are described as the earliest of that style in New Bern and probably influenced local carpenters. It is also cited as a good example of adaptive use of a historic building.","narrative":"Located at 520 New Street in New Bern, this two-and-a-half-story frame house has a center-hall main block with a hip roof and a large two-story rear ell. The two sections appear to have been built separately and joined later, and the ell may be the pre-Revolutionary structure. Robert Palmer improved the lots by 1769. Later owners included Chief Justice Martin Howard, silversmith William Tisdale, jurist and author Francis Xavier Martin, John Louis Taylor, and planter Asa Jones, whose family held it until 1958. Several were prominent in St. John's Masonic Lodge, and Tisdale was ordered in 1778 to engrave North Carolina's great seal, possibly in this house. The interiors combine Georgian stairs and sophisticated Federal mantels with vernacular details such as pierced gouge work. They are described as the earliest Federal interiors in New Bern. Since 1958 the building has housed school board offices.","period_of_significance":"18th Century","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Georgian and Federal interior finish, with vernacular elements","criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by the New Bern Board of Education and used as its administrative offices since 1958; condition listed as good, altered, 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 02:58:56.56396-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/94/7196/47719694/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/72000954.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000954/0bfd0969a9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000954/0bfd0969a9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Tradewinds","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tisdale-Jones_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:Tisdale-Jones_House.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719694","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tisdale%E2%80%93Jones_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18158848"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/craven-county/tisdale-jones-house-72000954/"}