{"nrhp_refnum":"83001717","name":"Brown, James, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"326 Spring St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.72600112200007,"lon":-74.00943430499996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-08-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-one-half-story frame building with a brick-veneer front at 326 Spring Street in Manhattan, erected in 1817 as a ground-floor shop with living quarters above.","why_significant":"It is an extremely rare survivor of a heavy timber braced-frame wooden building with a brick veneer facade, a construction type used in New York City into the early 19th century. It is also an early commercial building that shows the streetscape of a city of small shops with shopkeepers living above.","narrative":"Built in 1817 at 326 Spring Street in Manhattan, this small house combines a wooden heavy timber braced frame with a brick facade laid in Flemish bond. It rises two and one-half stories under a high gambrel, or \"kerb,\" roof with two original pedimented dormers. The building was designed with a shop on the ground floor and living quarters above, and the ground floor has been used commercially ever since. The present shopfront is a later replacement, but the original shop doors were reused at the upper-floor entrance and retain what is described as probably the only set of Federal period night shutters left in place in the city. The upper floors keep their floors, doors, woodwork, mantels and fireplaces. The house matters because few buildings of this construction type survive in New York, after the 1835 fire led the city to restrict wooden building. It also shows the early nineteenth-century pattern of shopkeepers living above their stores. The builder is unknown.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Unknown","architectural_style":"Federal","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied; the ground floor is a bar and restaurant and the upper floors are an apartment. The ground floor has been altered, while the upper floors retain nearly all original materials.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:43.436663-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/83001717.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001717/4459fff88b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001717/4459fff88b-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Jim.henderson","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ear_Inn_326_Spring_jeh.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Jim.henderson</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ear_Inn_326_Spring_jeh.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319315","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Brown_House_(Manhattan)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6130360"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/brown-james-house-83001717/"}