{"nrhp_refnum":"79000331","name":"G.A.R. Hall and Museum","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"58 Andrew St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lynn","county":"Essex County","state":"MA","lat":42.462926381000045,"lon":-70.94747384199997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-05-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-story brick Romanesque Revival building at 58 Andrew Street in Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, built in 1885-1886 as the hall of General Landers Post #5 of the Grand Army of the Republic and now operated as a museum.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it reflects the nineteenth-century fraternal organization and housed what became the largest G.A.R. post in the United States. It is an important local example of Romanesque Revival architecture and one of few such buildings predating the 1889 fire. Its largely intact third-floor meeting hall, with original stencilling, fixtures, furniture and a member portrait gallery, adds to its value.","narrative":"Built in 1885-1886 at 58 Andrew Street in Lynn, this four-story brick hall was the home of General Landers Post #5 of the Grand Army of the Republic, a Civil War veterans' organization. The post grew from 227 members in 1871 to more than 1,000 in 1885 and became the largest G.A.R. post in the country. The building has a pressed-brick facade with rock-faced sandstone trim and is an important local example of Romanesque Revival design. It is also one of few local buildings of that style that predate the 1889 fire, which destroyed most of the city's commercial area. The third-floor meeting hall, measuring 56 by 46 feet, keeps its original stencilling, brass lighting fixture and furniture, along with a wall grid of member photographs. The building also holds Civil War memorabilia and a library with bookcases built by member Frank G. Kelley. As the veterans' ranks dwindled, trustees took over and now run it as a museum owned by the city.","period_of_significance":"1885","architect_builder":"Frank Kelly (?); form text names Frank G. Kelley, a local contractor and G.A.R. member, who obtained the plans; no architect is named","architectural_style":"Romanesque Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by the City of Lynn and operated by a Board of Trustees as a museum; condition listed as good and altered.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.482962-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/48/7949/63794948/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/79000331.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000331/cb913db335-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000331/cb913db335-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grand_Army_of_the_Republic_Hall,_Lynn_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:Grand_Army_of_the_Republic_Hall,_Lynn_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794948","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Army_of_the_Republic_Hall_(Lynn,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5511983"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/essex-county/g-a-r-hall-and-museum-79000331/"}