{"nrhp_refnum":"76000252","name":"Stone Building","other_names":["The East Lexington Branch Library","Cary Memorial Library"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"735 Massachusetts Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lexington","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.429495135000025,"lon":-71.20681967799999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-04-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story Greek Revival building at 735 Massachusetts Avenue in East Lexington, Massachusetts, designed in 1833 by architect Isaac Melvin of Concord and now used as the East Lexington Branch (Cary Memorial) Library.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it was an early center of free-thinking and discussion for religious, philosophical and cultural groups in East Lexington. It is also described as the most elaborate Greek Revival structure in East Lexington today.","narrative":"Built in 1833 to a design by Concord architect Isaac Melvin, this two-story Greek Revival building on Massachusetts Avenue in East Lexington began as a public hall. Merchant Eli Robbins commissioned it so that lectures, preaching and meetings could be held, including those voicing anti-slavery views. A tetrastyle portico with fluted Doric columns, a pediment with quarter-circle windows and a detailed central entrance mark the front. From 1835 the Religious Society of the East Village met there, with preachers including Charles Follen, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Theodore Parker and others. Amos Bronson Alcott held conversation meetings in the hall. Abner Stone bought the building in 1851 and lived there until 1872. His family later offered it to the town as a library, and it was named the Stone Building in gratitude. It continues as the East Lexington Branch Library, with the upstairs meeting room much as it was.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Isaac Melvin (architect); John Colby (contractor); Curtis Capell (carpenter)","architectural_style":"Greek Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by the town, occupied, and in use as the East Lexington Branch Library; exterior described as basically unaltered, with the downstairs adapted for library use.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.388301-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/97/7958/63795897/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/76000252.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000252/b7e003a624-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000252/b7e003a624-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stone_Building,_East_Lexington_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stone_Building,_East_Lexington_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795897","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Stone_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2351520"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/stone-building-76000252/"}