{"nrhp_refnum":"80000672","name":"New England Conservatory of Music","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"290 Huntington Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.34091840600004,"lon":-71.08635131666763,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-05-14","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1994-04-19","areas_of_significance":["Education","Performing Arts","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national","state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story Renaissance Revival music school building at 290 Huntington Avenue in Boston's Back Bay Fens area, completed in 1903 to designs by Wheelwright and Haven, with a 1928 rear addition.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as the home of the nation's oldest independent conservatory of music, founded in 1867, whose faculty and students have contributed to music education and to musical life in Boston and nationally. It is also an example of Renaissance Revival architecture by a prominent Boston firm. Jordan Hall, at the building's core, is noted for its acoustics and its role as a mid-sized concert venue alongside Symphony Hall.","narrative":"Home to the nation's oldest independent music conservatory, this building at 290 Huntington Avenue in Boston was completed in 1903 to designs by the firm Wheelwright and Haven. It rises three stories from a granite basement and is built of buff brick with limestone trim, with a rusticated first story, a modillion cornice and carefully varied window treatments on each elevation. A 1928 addition at the rear matches the original materials and design. The conservatory was founded in 1867 by Dr. Eben Tourjee and moved here as cultural institutions relocated to the newly developed Fenway area. Jordan Hall, funded by patron Eben D. Jordan, forms the building's core and was valued as a moderately sized concert hall with fine acoustics and an ornate interior. The school became a full college of music in 1902, and it later granted the first jazz degree in the United States. Its graduates have filled orchestra chairs across the country.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":"Wheelwright and Haven","architectural_style":"Renaissance Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as occupied, privately owned, in good condition, and used for educational and entertainment purposes; altered by a 1928 addition.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.594001-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/17/7969/63796917/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/80000672.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000672/0908ab334e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000672/0908ab334e-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Boston at English Wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Huntington_Ave_Boston.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Boston at English Wikipedia</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Huntington_Ave_Boston.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796917","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_Conservatory_of_Music","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1347162"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/new-england-conservatory-of-music-80000672/"}