{"nrhp_refnum":"84002374","name":"House at 4 Birch Avenue","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"4 Birch Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Methuen","county":"Essex County","state":"MA","lat":42.727765806000036,"lon":-71.14897540099997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-01-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story, gable-roofed house at 4 Birch Avenue in Methuen, Essex County, Massachusetts, built about 1910 by an unknown architect. It is a private residence with a small stone and shingle barn at the rear.","why_significant":"The house is presented as a good example of the rustic, style-conscious residential building seen in Methuen around the turn of the century. It is also described as a well-conserved dwelling from the town's last major period of residential development. The form says it meets criterion C and retains integrity of location, design, setting, materials and workmanship.","narrative":"Built around 1910 on Birch Avenue in Methuen, this two-story, gable-roofed house reflects the rustic, style-conscious homebuilding popular in the town at the turn of the century. Its shingled walls are paired with a porch trimmed in fieldstone, oversized turned balusters and a conical-roofed corner section. A small barn of stone and shingle stands behind the house. Although the survey describes the design as not a true Bungalow, it recalls the work of California builders of the period. The house was listed because it retains its location, design, setting, materials and workmanship and is a well-conserved example from Methuen's last major phase of residential growth. Dwellings like this one were usually built by local carpenters and bought by the town's middle class. The architect is unknown, and the survey records no major alterations and no move. It remains a private residence, as it was originally.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Bungalow (the form notes it is not a true Bungalow but evokes the work of California builders)","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Present use is a private residence, the same as its original use; no major alterations are noted and the building 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 02:11:56.375936-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/65/7899/63789965/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/84002374.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002374/ed05a7d8aa-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002374/ed05a7d8aa-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.0","author":"EraserGirl","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:House_at_4_Birch_Avenue.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">EraserGirl</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:House_at_4_Birch_Avenue.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63789965","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_at_4_Birch_Avenue","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5914354"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/essex-county/house-at-4-birch-avenue-84002374/"}