{"nrhp_refnum":"80000628","name":"Knowles, Lucius, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"838 Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Worcester","county":"Worcester County","state":"MA","lat":42.25507842600007,"lon":-71.81410244099999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-03-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture","Invention"],"significance_levels":["state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Second Empire house at 838 Main Street, Worcester, Massachusetts, built in 1870 for Lucius J. Knowles, with a music room addition of 1880 designed by Stephen Earle. It later served as a funeral home.","why_significant":"The main house is described as one of the city's best examples of Second Empire architecture despite later aluminum siding. Its 1880 music room, with stained-glass skylights and decorated interior, is called one of the most important Victorian interiors in Worcester. Knowles was also a prominent loom inventor and manufacturer.","narrative":"Built in 1870 for Lucius J. Knowles, this house at 838 Main Street in Worcester is regarded as one of the city's best examples of Second Empire architecture, even though aluminum siding was applied in the 1970s. The symmetrical facade has a slightly projecting central pavilion with ornate wooden doors and an original entry porch. A concavely curved mansard roof of fish-scale slate and paired brackets with carved swags are among its original features. In 1880 Worcester architect Stephen Earle designed a music room added at the northeast corner, reputedly with a bay to hold a harp played by Knowles's daughter. Stained-glass skylights survive inside, along with wood paneling, arabesque bands and windows showing musicians and artists. Knowles, born in 1819, began as a daguerreotypist and became a leading loom inventor and manufacturer whose firm later merged into Crompton and Knowles. The house served as a residence before becoming a funeral home in the mid twentieth century.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Stephen Earle (1880 music room addition); original architect unknown","architectural_style":"Victorian Second Empire","criteria":[],"status_note":"Used as a funeral home (present use at time of the form); aluminum siding added in the 1970s.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.976178-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/99/7929/63792999/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/80000628.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000628/dbb7c6bf09-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000628/dbb7c6bf09-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Knowles_House_838_Main_Street.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Knowles_House_838_Main_Street.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63792999","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_Knowles_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6697563"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/worcester-county/knowles-lucius-house-80000628/"}