{"nrhp_refnum":"84002223","name":"Taunton Alms House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Norton Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Taunton","county":"Bristol County","state":"MA","lat":41.91861557800007,"lon":-71.13207528699996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-07-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick Italianate almshouse on Norton Avenue in Taunton, Massachusetts, built in 1876 for the City of Taunton and designed by local architect E.C. Chandler. It later became a nursing home.","why_significant":"It was the first substantial city-maintained institution for relief of the poor and reflects the late 19th-century social reform movement. It is also an excellent local example of institutional brick architecture in the Italianate style. The nomination cites Criteria A and C.","narrative":"Built in 1876 on Norton Avenue in Taunton, this brick almshouse replaced an earlier poorhouse on the same site and was the city's first substantial publicly maintained institution for relief of the poor. It housed 60 paupers, many of them children who were placed with local families after a year to encourage good character. The facility was partly self-supporting, with a communal farm where inmates raised livestock, legumes, fruit and hay. Local architect E.C. Chandler adapted the Italianate style to an institutional building. It has nine bays, stone lintels and sills, staggered quoins, and a central entrance with sidelights set in a slightly projecting gable-fronted pavilion. The building retains integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship and association. It was listed for its architecture and for reflecting late 19th-century social reform in Taunton. The building later served as a nursing home, and the nominated boundary covers the building and 12 feet of land around its foundation.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"E.C. Chandler","architectural_style":"Italianate","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Present use is a nursing home; the building is recorded as unaltered and not moved.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:58.044762-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/25/7895/63789525/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/84002223.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002223/b6baa576fe-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002223/b6baa576fe-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taunton_Nursing_Home.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taunton_Nursing_Home.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63789525","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taunton_Alms_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7688779"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/bristol-county/taunton-alms-house-84002223/"}