{"nrhp_refnum":"82001934","name":"Cook, William, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"71 Appleton St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cambridge","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.37917949900003,"lon":-71.13424274699997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-04-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A wood-frame residence at 71 Appleton Street in Old Cambridge, Massachusetts, built in 1876 for William Cook and designed by W.P.P. Longfellow.","why_significant":"The house marks the transition between the Stick Style of the early 1870s and the Queen Anne style of the 1880s. It shows varied silhouette, asymmetrical massing and picturesque detail, along with Ruskinian medieval influence in its blunt pointed arches and polychromatic masonry. It also retains one of the handsomest and least-changed Victorian interiors in Old Cambridge.","narrative":"Built in 1876 at 71 Appleton Street in Old Cambridge, this wood-frame house was designed by W.P.P. Longfellow for its first owner, William Cook. It has remained a residence since it was built. Its main importance lies in timing: the design marks the shift from the Stick Style popular in the early 1870s to the Queen Anne architecture of the 1880s, and it carries features of both. The Queen Anne influence shows in the varied silhouette, asymmetrical massing and picturesque detail. The medieval-inspired ideas of John Ruskin appear in the blunt pointed arches and polychromatic masonry. The exterior is a patterned combination of brownstone and black brick, and vines heavily cover the walls. Inside, the house contains one of the handsomest and least-changed Victorian interiors in Old Cambridge. Reviewers valued it as a locally significant, good example of Queen Anne architecture with Ruskinian medieval influence, and it was accepted in 1982 on architectural grounds.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"W.P.P. Longfellow","architectural_style":"Stick Style/Queen Anne","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Residential use, the same as its original use; the form records no alterations and no move.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.22763-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/86/7904/63790486/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/82001934.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001934/4326d1151b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001934/4326d1151b-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Daderot","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Cook_House,_71_Appleton_Street,_Cambridge,_MA_-_IMG_4698.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Daderot</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Cook_House,_71_Appleton_Street,_Cambridge,_MA_-_IMG_4698.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63790486","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Cook_House_(Cambridge,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8007080"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/cook-william-house-82001934/"}