{"nrhp_refnum":"84002464","name":"Almshouse","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"136 Elm St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Stoneham","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.49170901800005,"lon":-71.08744897999998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-04-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-a-half-story Greek Revival wood-frame poorhouse at 136 Elm Street, Stoneham, Massachusetts, built in 1852 by the Town of Stoneham. A cast stone barn stands behind it.","why_significant":"It is described as one of the few intact 19th-century poorhouses surviving in the metropolitan Boston area. It is significant as a rare example of an important 19th-century building type and for its association with the care of Stoneham's aged and indigent. The form states that it meets criteria A and C and retains integrity of location, setting, materials and association.","narrative":"Built in 1852 at 136 Elm Street, Stoneham's almshouse served as the town poorhouse, housing the \"older unfortunates\" but not children. It replaced an earlier almshouse and was enlarged in 1890. The clapboarded wood-frame building rises two and a half stories from a granite foundation to a gable roof with deep projecting eaves. Its five-bay main block has end chimneys and a center hall, a conservative plan for its date that reflects its practical purpose. The facade has a central entrance with a Greek Revival surround of transom and full-length sidelights. Side and rear ells and later additions extend the main block. A two-story barn of rusticated cast stone blocks stands on the property. Although later subdivisions cut into the original tract, a tree-lined entrance road recalls its earlier setting. The building is valued as one of few surviving 19th-century poorhouses in the Boston area and as a record of how the town cared for its poor and elderly. It is still used as a nursing home.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Greek Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Currently used as a nursing home / senior citizens center; owned by the Town of Stoneham.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:57.318708-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/19/7914/63791419/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/84002464.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002464/93af733d6b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002464/93af733d6b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StonehamMA_Almshouse.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:StonehamMA_Almshouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63791419","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almshouse_(Stoneham,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4734022"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/almshouse-84002464/"}