{"nrhp_refnum":"84002471","name":"Bancroft, Samuel, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"232 West St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Reading","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.518838182000025,"lon":-71.12049027999996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-07-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A c. 1748 vernacular Georgian house at 232 West Street in Reading, Massachusetts, built for or by Samuel Bancroft on the town's far western side. It is a wood-shingled dwelling with a garage outbuilding.","why_significant":"The nomination cites its role in the development of the Dragon Corner node along West Street, and its connection with early shoe manufacturer Ephraim Weston. It may also contain remnants of a mid-17th-century house. It retains integrity of location, general design and setting.","narrative":"This house at 232 West Street in Reading, Massachusetts, dates to about 1748 and is a symmetrical, shingled dwelling in a vernacular Georgian form, with small second-floor windows that touch the plate. Samuel Bancroft bought Henry Merrow's farm that year and probably built the house nearer West Street, which had become the main thoroughfare. Local researchers suspect that part of Merrow's earlier dwelling, possibly from the mid-1600s, survives inside. Bancroft was a deacon, justice of the peace, militia captain, selectman and legislator. In 1798 Ephraim Weston, a major shoe manufacturer who wholesaled shoes made by neighbors at home, bought the property. His son and later Clifford Weston, also in the shoe trade, held it. The house is listed for its place in the Dragon Corner neighborhood, its link to Weston, and its possible early fabric. Later additions include a bay window, porch, portico and rear lean-to.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Samuel Bancroft (probable builder); architect n/a","architectural_style":"Vernacular Georgian","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Altered over time with a bay window on the east, a porch and portico on the south, a lean-to addition on the north, and a removed chimney. Oriented south and screened from the road by hedges.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:56.459179-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/54/7914/63791454/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/84002471.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002471/3830399a32-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002471/3830399a32-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ReadingMA_SamuelBancroftHouse.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:ReadingMA_SamuelBancroftHouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63791454","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Bancroft_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7410864"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/bancroft-samuel-house-84002471/"}