{"nrhp_refnum":"83000818","name":"Mount Auburn Cemetery Reception House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"583 Mt. Auburn St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cambridge","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.37573096700004,"lon":-71.14529982799996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-06-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story stuccoed reception house at 583 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, built in 1870 for Mount Auburn Cemetery on a site directly opposite the cemetery entrance. It was designed by Boston architect Nathaniel J. Bradlee.","why_significant":"The building is significant for its association with Mount Auburn Cemetery, the first garden cemetery in the United States, which needed a reception house for funeral parties. It is also significant architecturally as the work of N. J. Bradlee, one of only two surviving Cambridge works by him, the other being Gray's Hall at Harvard.","narrative":"Built in 1870 at 583 Mount Auburn Street in Cambridge, this one-story building served as a reception house for funeral parties visiting Mount Auburn Cemetery. The cemetery trustees bought the site across the street from the cemetery gate after concluding that the two rooms in the gate itself were too small. They hired Boston architect Nathaniel J. Bradlee, who designed a stuccoed Bracketed Italianate building forty-six feet wide and thirty feet deep, with a hip roof and a center entrance. A portico on four tapered posts spans the front, and a pedimented cross gable with incised floral decoration holds a cartouche for a clock. A second reception house built on the cemetery grounds in 1896 replaced it, and the building later took on commercial use. It was listed for its link to the cemetery, the first garden cemetery in the country, and as one of two surviving Cambridge works by Bradlee, the other being Gray's Hall at Harvard.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Nathaniel J. Bradlee","architectural_style":"Bracketed Italianate","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Present use is commercial; the building houses a marble and granite works. It was altered around 1900 and has not been moved.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:56.469134-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/19/7906/63790619/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/83000818.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000818/f0c29353c0-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000818/f0c29353c0-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CambridgeMA_583MountAuburnStreet.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:CambridgeMA_583MountAuburnStreet.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63790619","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Auburn_Cemetery_Reception_House_(1870)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16895402"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/mount-auburn-cemetery-reception-house-83000818/"}