{"nrhp_refnum":"75000257","name":"Whitaker-Clary House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Elm St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New Salem","county":"Franklin County","state":"MA","lat":42.54070151900004,"lon":-72.31558145199995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-06-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A c. 1816 frame house on Elm Street in the village of North New Salem, Franklin County, Massachusetts. It sits on a slight knoll set back from the street, with an attached ell and a separate barn.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is primarily architecturally significant as an outstanding local example of Federal architecture that kept almost all of its original details. Its interior finishes are especially notable, including carved mantels, fireboards in the manner of Moses Eaton, and a stencilled stair carpet that a decorative-painting author said she had never seen used that way. Its planning, with large closets and spacious rooms, was unusual for the period.","narrative":"Built around 1816 in the village of North New Salem, Massachusetts, this five-bay, clapboarded frame house sits on a small rise well back from Elm Street. A divided front door with fanlight and fluted pilasters, a dentilled cornice, a slate roof and granite foundation mark it as Federal in style. The hand-hewn timber frame remains in excellent condition, and the exterior has changed little apart from replacement of the original twelve-over-twelve windows with two-over-two sash. Inside, a central hall plan holds eight rooms with hand-grained doors, marbleized hall floors, stencilled friezes and imported French wallpaper in the parlor. Four front fireplaces have individually carved mantels, and five hand-painted fireboards recall the work of itinerant painter Moses Eaton. The stair treads are stencilled to resemble carpet, a treatment a noted author of decorative wall painting had not encountered before. The architect and builders are unknown, but the house is valued locally as the finest example of such work in New Salem.","period_of_significance":"c.1816","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Federal (with Georgian elements)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by a historical society and used as a museum; the exterior is largely in its original configuration and the interior has had no major alterations.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.596501-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/87/7950/63795087/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/75000257.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000257/906e1fd2b3-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000257/906e1fd2b3-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NewSalemMA_WhitakerClaryHouse.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Magicpiano</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NewSalemMA_WhitakerClaryHouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795087","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitaker-Clary_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7994120"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/franklin-county/whitaker-clary-house-75000257/"}