{"nrhp_refnum":"77000171","name":"Fiske House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1 Billerica Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chelmsford Center","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.59663705600008,"lon":-71.35129601799997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1977-12-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick-ended, 2 1/2 story Federal style house at 1 Billerica Road in the center of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, built in 1798 for merchant Simeon Spaulding, Jr., with a barn, well house and sheds on about 1 3/4 acres.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is one of the first Federal style houses in Northern Middlesex County and occupies a prominent position in the center of Chelmsford. It also had 137 years of association with the Fiske family and has an interesting ownership history, including use as the Lafayette House tavern from 1835.","narrative":"Built in 1798 for merchant Simeon Spaulding, Jr., this Federal style house stands at the corner of Billerica Road and Chelmsford Street in the center of Chelmsford. It is a square-plan, brick-ended house of 2 1/2 stories with a five-bay facade, tapering pilasters and a fanlighted center entrance with a keyed round arch that the nomination calls highly unusual in New England. Inside are nine fireplaces, old wallpaper and hand-carved molding. A barn with cupola, a well house and sheds survive on the grounds. The house replaced an earlier one owned by Major John Minot. After Spaulding's high costs forced sales and repurchases, it served as the Lafayette House tavern from 1835 and passed to the Fiske family in 1839, remaining with them until 1977. It was listed as one of the first Federal style houses in Northern Middlesex County and for its central position in town.","period_of_significance":"1798","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Federal","criteria":[],"status_note":"Recently purchased by a bank, with plans to keep the house and outbuildings and possibly convert them to commercial use; a later letter reports a fire on December 30, 1978 damaged the roof but left the structure sound.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.250499-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/62/7956/63795662/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/77000171.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77000171/4925240691-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77000171/4925240691-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fiske_House,_Chelmsford_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:Fiske_House,_Chelmsford_MA.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"80000646","name":"Chelmsford Center Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/chelmsford-center-historic-district-80000646/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795662","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiske_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5455185"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/fiske-house-77000171/"}