{"nrhp_refnum":"82001992","name":"Allen House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"57 Rolfe St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lowell","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.64251421900008,"lon":-71.33607043499995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-08-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture","Invention"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick Italianate house at 57 Rolfe Street in Lowell, Massachusetts, built about 1854 on a rise above the Merrimack River, with later additions and a partly surviving landscape of drive and terraces.","why_significant":"It is one of the few surviving Italianate estates built in Lowell before the Civil War and has an unusual corbeled apron across its gables. It is also associated with three prominent Lowell citizens: Abiel Rolfe, firearms inventor Rollin White, and Charles H. Allen, a congressman and the first civilian governor of Puerto Rico.","narrative":"Built around 1854 on a rise overlooking the Merrimack River, this 2½-story brick house at 57 Rolfe Street in Lowell is one of the few Italianate estates in the city that predate the Civil War. Its cross-gable form, corbeled cornices, paneled brick pilasters and quatrefoil gable lights are distinctive, and its corbeled gable aprons are a Romanesque Revival feature found on no other Lowell residence. Later owners added wings, bays and porches in matching style. The house was built for Abiel Rolfe, a railroad agent. It later belonged to Rollin White, a firearms inventor, and then to Charles H. Allen, who served as congressman, Assistant Secretary of the Navy and first civilian governor of Puerto Rico. Nuns bought it in 1945, and the University of Lowell acquired it in 1957 for a dormitory and offices. It has stood vacant since the mid-1970s, and its interior is deteriorating. It is the last survivor of a street of large houses.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Unknown; the form suggests local architect James H. Rand may have been involved","architectural_style":"Italianate, with Romanesque Revival corbeled gable aprons","criteria":["B","C"],"status_note":"Vacant since the mid-1970s; structurally sound and in fair condition, but the interior is deteriorating with broken windows, falling plaster and vandalism.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:57.17893-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/2/7956/63795602/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/82001992.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001992/1fef525e7f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001992/1fef525e7f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LowellMA_AllenHouse.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:LowellMA_AllenHouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795602","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_House_(Lowell,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4731690"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/allen-house-82001992/"}