{"nrhp_refnum":"80000574","name":"Davis, Joseph, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"41 Elm St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Worcester","county":"Worcester County","state":"MA","lat":42.265547094000055,"lon":-71.80583938599995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-03-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Shingle Style residence at 41 Elm Street in Worcester, Massachusetts, built in 1884 for Joseph Estabrook Davis and designed by the Boston firm Peabody & Stearns.","why_significant":"The house is described as one of Worcester's best examples of Shingle Style architecture, designed by a prominent Boston firm and remaining largely in original condition. It was illustrated in The Engineering and Building Record in 1888. It was also later owned by William Rice, a leading figure in the wire manufacturing industry.","narrative":"Built in 1884 at 41 Elm Street in Worcester, this Shingle Style house was designed by the Boston firm Peabody & Stearns for Joseph Davis, son of Isaac Davis, who had lived nearby on West Street. The irregular plan features a two-storey gambrel roof with dormers, steeply pitched overhanging gables, bay windows, a tall oriel lighting the stair landing, paneled chimneys and varied decorative shingling. A panel on the west elevation bears the construction date. A low granite wall with a rounded brown sandstone coping borders the property. Davis sold the house in 1890 to William Rice, later president of the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company and a promoter of the mergers that produced the American Steel and Wire Company. The Rice family kept the property until 1953, when it was given to the Worcester Natural History Society. The house remains largely original, apart from a partially enclosed porch and a removed porch railing, and it was illustrated in a national building journal in 1888.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Peabody & Stearns of Boston","architectural_style":"Shingle Style","criteria":[],"status_note":"Used as offices by the Worcester Redevelopment Authority; porch partially enclosed in the mid-20th century.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.34462-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/27/7930/63793027/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/80000574.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000574/271eafcc96-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000574/271eafcc96-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Pvmoutside","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joseph_Davis_House_Worcester_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Pvmoutside</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joseph_Davis_House_Worcester_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63793027","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Davis_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6282509"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/worcester-county/davis-joseph-house-80000574/"}