{"nrhp_refnum":"73000288","name":"Pratt, Dexter, House","other_names":["The Window Shop"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"54 Brattle St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cambridge","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.374537470000064,"lon":-71.12283878999995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-05-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Literature","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story, hip-roofed Federal-style house at 54 Brattle Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, built in 1808, with a glass-walled shop added at the rear in 1946.","why_significant":"The nomination cites its literary link to Dexter Pratt, the blacksmith who inspired the 'Village Smithy' in Longfellow's poem. It is also a good example of early nineteenth-century Federal architecture and the only nineteenth-century house left on its stretch of Brattle Street. Its later use by the Window Shop, Inc., which aided European refugees, and its purchase for preservation add further significance.","narrative":"Built in 1808 at 54 Brattle Street in Cambridge, this two-story, hip-roofed Federal house has a five-bay facade, six-over-six sash, original clapboards and a fanlight entrance with pilasters. Its bracketed hood was added in 1875. Dexter Pratt, the blacksmith behind Longfellow's 'Village Smithy,' bought the house in 1827, and with the shop and chestnut tree gone, it remains the best reminder of the poem's hero. It is the only nineteenth-century house left on Brattle Street between Hilliard Street and Brattle Square. From the 1920s it served as a tea room and restaurant. In 1946 the Window Shop, Inc., which employed European refugees during World War II, bought it and added a glass-walled shop at the rear. In 1973 the Cambridge Center for Adult Education purchased the property, which improved its chances of surviving development pressure around Harvard Square.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Rear shop (1946) by Kennedy & Johnson; original builder not stated","architectural_style":"Federal","criteria":[],"status_note":"Purchased in 1973 by the Cambridge Center for Adult Education, which planned educational and social use; the form marks the condition as altered and the building 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 02:11:54.661944-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/87/7959/63795987/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/73000288.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000288/5ad4da91cc-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000288/5ad4da91cc-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Swampyank at en.wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dexter_Pratt_House_in_Cambridge_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Swampyank at en.wikipedia</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:Dexter_Pratt_House_in_Cambridge_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795987","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter_Pratt_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5268433"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/pratt-dexter-house-73000288/"}