{"nrhp_refnum":"74000908","name":"Bellingham-Cary House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"34 Parker St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chelsea","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.39777198100006,"lon":-71.03803857899999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-09-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 2½-story Federal-style clapboard mansion at 34 Parker Street, Chelsea, Massachusetts, completed in 1791 and incorporating a 1659 hunting lodge and mid-18th-century additions.","why_significant":"It is described as the only existing house built, in part, by one of the founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Gov. Richard Bellingham. It is also the only remaining historically significant 17th-18th century structure in Chelsea. Its 1791 enlargement by Samuel Cary turned it into a showplace known as \"The Retreat.\"","narrative":"Set on a small hill behind a wide lawn among maple and oak trees in a residential part of Chelsea, this large Federal mansion grew in stages. Its oldest section, now called the \"old kitchen,\" was built in 1659 as a hunting lodge by Gov. Richard Bellingham, who arrived in Massachusetts from England in 1634 and served as governor. The Cary family added a west parlor and two rooms above around the 1750s. In 1791 Samuel Cary, who had prosperous plantations in Grenada, spent $12,000 turning the modest house into an elaborate mansion with a stately staircase and panelling brought from England. The grounds were extensively landscaped, and the estate became known as \"The Retreat.\" The house has a hip roof, pedimented dormers, a Doric pedimented entrance, ten original fireplaces and a double stairway dividing eight rooms. It is considered the only existing house built partly by a founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the last significant 17th-18th century structure in Chelsea. It now serves as a museum.","period_of_significance":"17th and 18th centuries (specific dates 1659, c.1750, and 1791)","architect_builder":"Gov. Richard Bellingham (original 1659 section); Samuel Cary (1791 enlargement)","architectural_style":"Federal","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in use as a museum; owned by the Gov. Bellingham-Cary House Association since 1908. Condition is marked as 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 02:11:54.091934-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/65/7969/63796965/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/74000908.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74000908/8c1d429c82-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74000908/8c1d429c82-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jameslwoodward","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bellingham-Cary_House_Chelsea_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jameslwoodward</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:Bellingham-Cary_House_Chelsea_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796965","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellingham%E2%80%93Cary_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4884019"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/bellingham-cary-house-74000908/"}