{"nrhp_refnum":"79000362","name":"Winslow-Haskell Mansion","other_names":["The Castle"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"53 Vista Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Newton","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.340126361000046,"lon":-71.24568902599998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-10-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture","Communications"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 2½-story High Victorian Gothic brick mansion known as The Castle, at 53 Vista Avenue on Vista Hill in the Auburndale section of Newton, Massachusetts, designed and built in 1870 for Ezra D. Winslow.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is a fine example of picturesque High Victorian Gothic design, with complex massing and a hilltop site. It also has associations with Edwin Bradbury Haskell, who bought it in 1872 and was owner and editor of the Boston Herald. It represents the peak of Victorian domestic architecture in Auburndale, an early railroad village.","narrative":"Perched on Vista Hill in Newton's Auburndale neighborhood, this 2½-story brick mansion was built in 1870 for Ezra D. Winslow and reached by a winding carriage drive. Buff brick with darker trim, a steep patterned slate roof with jerkin-headed gables, pointed-arch windows, carved vergeboards and a pyramid-roofed entrance tower give it the picturesque look of High Victorian Gothic design. A three-sided tower on the east side was apparently added in 1882. Auburndale grew as a railroad village after the Boston and Albany line arrived in 1834, and the house marks the high point of its Victorian domestic building. Two years after construction it was sold to Edwin Bradbury Haskell, who owned and edited the Boston Herald from 1865 to 1887 and served locally as library trustee president and a metropolitan park commissioner. At the time of listing the house stood vacant and boarded, with some exterior details lost but much interior woodwork intact.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"High Victorian Gothic","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as vacant and boarded, beginning to deteriorate, with some original features lost (porch balusters, roof brackets, cresting); most interior paneling, doors and mantels remain.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.51052-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/26/7957/63795726/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/79000362.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000362/c30e6a2717-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000362/c30e6a2717-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NewtonMA_WinslowHaskellMansion.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_WinslowHaskellMansion.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"86001744","name":"Lasell Neighborhood Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/lasell-neighborhood-historic-district-86001744/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795726","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winslow%E2%80%93Haskell_Mansion","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8025938"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/winslow-haskell-mansion-79000362/"}