{"nrhp_refnum":"83000798","name":"Ellis, Asa, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"158 Auburn St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cambridge","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.36333200400003,"lon":-71.10492632499995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-06-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story frame Federal style house at 158 Auburn Street in Cambridgeport, Cambridge, Massachusetts, built in 1805 for Asa Ellis and used as a residence throughout its history.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it a rare example of a frame Federal style house in Cambridgeport and one of a handful of Federal buildings surviving from the neighborhood's first period of development. It is tied to the growth of Cambridgeport along the turnpikes serving the West Boston Bridge. Reviewers later accepted that the original clapboards and overall integrity remain beneath later siding.","narrative":"Built in 1805 for Asa Ellis, this frame house at 158 Auburn Street is among the few Federal style buildings that survive from the earliest phase of Cambridgeport's development. That neighborhood grew along the turnpikes linking the West Boston Bridge of 1793 with Old Cambridge and towns to the west, and a real estate boom ended with the Embargo of 1807-1809. The house has a two-story, two-room center-hall plan with the hearth centered on the rear wall, a five-bay facade, a low-pitched hip roof, and a fanlight with simple wood tracery over the side entrance, which faces a flower garden. Only one of two original chimneys remains. Asphalt siding covers the original clapboards, and the windows were changed during the nineteenth century, yet the nomination argues the house could be restored easily. It was listed for its link to Cambridgeport's growth and as a rare example of Federal period domestic construction.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Federal","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Present use is residential; it has minor alterations, including asphalt siding over the original clapboards and windows changed from 6-over-6 to 2-over-2.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:56.753594-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/40/7904/63790440/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/83000798.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000798/69a965dfc6-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000798/69a965dfc6-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Tim Pierce","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Asa_Ellis_House.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Tim Pierce</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:Asa_Ellis_House.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63790440","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asa_Ellis_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4803114"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/ellis-asa-house-83000798/"}