{"nrhp_refnum":"84002098","name":"Gilbert, Elisha, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"US 20","address_restricted":false,"city":"New Lebanon","county":"Columbia County","state":"NY","lat":42.46924994600005,"lon":-73.42896747607452,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-09-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story frame house with a large gambrel roof on U.S. Route 20 in New Lebanon Center, Columbia County, New York, built in 1794 on an eleven-acre hillside property with a family cemetery and a nineteenth-century barn.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it an outstanding, virtually unaltered example of late eighteenth-century vernacular residential architecture that reflects Connecticut building traditions. Its attic holds the meeting room of Unity Lodge No. 9, with intact symbolic murals, described as the oldest extant lodge room in New York State. It is also tied to the locally prominent Gilbert family.","narrative":"Built in 1794 on the south side of U.S. Route 20 in New Lebanon Center, this two-story clapboarded house is topped by an unusually large gambrel roof. Elisha Gilbert, an early settler, mill operator and Revolutionary War militia officer, built it with a wide central hall, paneled parlors and a Palladian window above a pedimented porch. Its form, plan, framing and roof construction follow Connecticut precedent rather than the Dutch and German traditions common along the Hudson River side of the county. The attic was fitted out as a meeting hall for Unity Lodge No. 9 of the Freemasons, which used it from 1795 until 1850. Painted Masonic emblems, including King Solomon's Temple and the Beehive, survive on its walls, and the porch was designed as a symbol of the lodge. The Gilbert family occupied the house for more than a century. The property also includes the family cemetery and a nineteenth-century barn.","period_of_significance":"1794","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Federal period vernacular, primarily reflecting pre-Revolutionary Georgian design and Connecticut frame building practices","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as virtually intact and well maintained; occupied as a private residence, with a 1920s service wing added at the northwest corner.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:42.081519-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/84002098.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75317008","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisha_Gilbert_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5361759"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/columbia-county/gilbert-elisha-house-84002098/"}