{"nrhp_refnum":"76000275","name":"Newbury Historic District","other_names":["The First Parish","Upper Green"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Irregular pattern along High Rd., Green and Hanover Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Newbury","county":"Essex County","state":"MA","lat":42.798204000000055,"lon":-70.86182421055781,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-05-24","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 38-acre historic district in the center of Newbury, Essex County, Massachusetts, made up of forty structures along High Road, Green Street and Hanover Street around the Upper Green, with buildings from the seventeenth through twentieth centuries.","why_significant":"The district is significant for its fine grouping of buildings, especially its seventeenth and eighteenth century houses, and for its ties to the early development of Newbury. The area has served as the community focus since the new settlement was established in 1646. Its range of periods shows the town's growth from its beginnings to the twentieth century.","narrative":"Forty buildings around the Upper Green and along High Road form the center of Newbury, Massachusetts. Nearly a third date from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, including the Tristram Coffin House of 1654, the Dr. Peter Toppan House of 1697, the Swett-Ilsley House begun in 1670 and the Short House of the early eighteenth century. Later houses show Federal, Greek Revival, mansard-roofed Victorian and Colonial Revival styles. Civic and institutional buildings include the First Parish Church of 1869, the Woodbridge School of 1898 and the Town Hall. The green was laid out in 1642 as a training ground and hosted a troop encampment under Benedict Arnold in 1775. The First Parish Burying Ground holds graves of early settlers. Three of the houses are now museums. Together the buildings show how the town developed from its first settlement in the 1640s through the twentieth century, and most keep a modest domestic scale.","period_of_significance":"1600-1999 (checked periods: 1600-1699, 1700-1799, 1800-1899, 1900-)","architect_builder":"Col. Fred J. Coffin (First Parish Church design); Stephen Swett (Swett-Ilsley House); Nicholas Pettingill (blacksmith shop)","architectural_style":"Mix of First Period, Georgian/colonial, Federal, Greek Revival, Victorian (mansard) and Colonial Revival buildings","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition marked good and altered; buildings continue to serve as the community center, and three houses function as house museums.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.362914-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/44/7949/63794944/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/76000275.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000275/bf96304f4d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000275/bf96304f4d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Looking_south_across_the_pond_on_the_Upper_Green,_Newbury_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:Looking_south_across_the_pond_on_the_Upper_Green,_Newbury_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794944","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newbury_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7017233"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/essex-county/newbury-historic-district-76000275/"}