{"nrhp_refnum":"82002748","name":"Belcher-Rowe House","other_names":["Governor Johnathan Belcher Place"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"26 Governor Belcher Lane","address_restricted":false,"city":"Milton","county":"Norfolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.25943343900008,"lon":-71.04884878499996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-04-01","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story Federal-style clapboard house with twin interior chimneys and a gambrel-roofed ell, at 26 Governor Belcher Lane in Milton, Massachusetts, built in 1776-1777 by Elizabeth Teale Belcher and Mary Louisa Emilia Teale Belcher.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house retains integrity and is tied to Milton's late eighteenth-century development. It is the first Federal-style house in Milton and one of the earliest in the Milton-Braintree area. It is also linked to Mary Phillips Webster, a Rowe descendant who preserved Suffolk Resolves documents, headed music instruction at the Perkins School for the Blind, and founded the Milton Woman's Club.","narrative":"Built in 1776-1777 on Milton's old road between Dorchester and Braintree, this two-story clapboard house has twin interior chimneys, a central hall and a gambrel-roofed ell. Elizabeth Teale Belcher and Mary Louisa Emilia Teale Belcher rebuilt on the site after an earlier house, begun about 1637 by John Holman, burned in January 1776. Its foundation and stone steps are still visible in the basement. The new house departed from the older central-chimney plan and is the first Federal-style house in Milton. Inside, the southeast second-floor chamber has a mantel with molded ornament featuring a figure of Plenty, a panel Samuel McIntire also used elsewhere. The property was sold in 1781 to Boston merchant John Rowe, and his family kept it until 1940. Descendant Mary Phillips Webster, born in the house, preserved Suffolk Resolves material, led music instruction at the Perkins School for the Blind and founded the Milton Woman's Club in 1898. The original 200-acre farm has shrunk to 23,000 square feet.","period_of_significance":"1776 and 1777","architect_builder":"Unknown (built by Elizabeth Teale Belcher and Mary Louisa Emilia Teale Belcher)","architectural_style":"Federal","criteria":["B","C"],"status_note":"Occupied private residence in excellent condition; the exterior is essentially unaltered except for the ell.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.586335-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/56/7963/63796356/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/82002748.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82002748/89487eed88-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82002748/89487eed88-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jameslwoodward","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Belcher-Rowe_House_Milton_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jameslwoodward</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:Belcher-Rowe_House_Milton_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796356","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belcher-Rowe_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4882052"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/norfolk-county/belcher-rowe-house-82002748/"}