{"nrhp_refnum":"76000266","name":"Bigelow, Dr. Henry Jacob, House","other_names":["Peabody School Extension"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"742 Dedham St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Newton","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.30273028700003,"lon":-71.18636979399997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-01-01","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Health/Medicine","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story shingle style house built around a courtyard on Oak Hill in Newton, Massachusetts, designed in 1886 and built in 1887 by architect Henry Hobson Richardson for Dr. Henry Jacob Bigelow. It later served as the Peabody School extension.","why_significant":"The house is among the last designs of Henry Hobson Richardson and is the only shingle-style residence by him in Newton. It is also associated with Dr. Henry Jacob Bigelow, an eminent surgeon who studied anaesthesia and performed a first painless operation at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1846.","narrative":"Set on Oak Hill, one of Newton's highest points, this two-story shingle style house wraps around a courtyard and includes a carriage house, a small corner turret and a polygonal lantern on the rear service wing. Henry Hobson Richardson designed it in January 1886 for Dr. Henry Jacob Bigelow, and it was built the following year. Though not counted among Richardson's most outstanding shingle houses, it is his only shingle residence in Newton, and its wooded hilltop site recalls a time when the area was farms and woodland. Bigelow was a prominent surgeon and Harvard Medical School professor who, in 1846, performed the first painless operation at Massachusetts General Hospital using ether. The exterior remains nearly original apart from deterioration, while the interior was heavily altered for dormitory and classroom use by the Peabody School. The city leased the property in 1963 and later pledged better maintenance and studies of new uses.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Henry Hobson Richardson","architectural_style":"Shingle style","criteria":[],"status_note":"Exterior largely unchanged but showing deterioration; interior altered for dormitory and classroom use by the Peabody School; leased to the City of Newton in 1963, which allowed disrepair. The city has agreed to better maintenance and feasibility studies for alternative uses.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.751659-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/93/7959/63795993/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/76000266.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000266/66913151d8-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000266/66913151d8-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NewtonMA_DrHenryJacobBigelowHouse.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:NewtonMA_DrHenryJacobBigelowHouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795993","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Henry_Jacob_Bigelow_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5304145"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/bigelow-dr-henry-jacob-house-76000266/"}