{"nrhp_refnum":"84002574","name":"Durgin House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"66 Prospect St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Reading","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.522280565000074,"lon":-71.11938942399996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-07-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A private dwelling at 66 Prospect Street in Reading, Massachusetts, built in 1872 (the history section says 1873) for William F. Durgin. The architect is unknown, and the house is in the Italianate style.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it one of Reading's finest surviving Italianate houses and an intact example of high-style Italianate architecture. It also represents the home of a railroad commuter, part of a wave of businessmen who lived in Reading and worked in Boston. An \"auto house\" assessed in 1910 is cited as a further point of interest.","narrative":"Built in 1872 on a slight rise at the corner of King and Prospect Streets in Reading, this Italianate house was designed by an unknown architect for William F. Durgin. Durgin, a former teacher and newspaper editor, came to Reading in 1867 and commuted by railroad to work in Boston, like many businessmen who settled in the town then. The house has a cross-gable form, two side porches and a bay window on each gable end. Large paired brackets sit beneath the main eaves, and single brackets support the bay window roofs. The porches have chamfered posts on pedestals, incised scrolls and a bracketed, denticulate cornice. Above the eastern bay window, two tall round-headed windows are framed by pilasters and a pediment. After Durgin died in 1887, the house passed to William B. Livermore. In 1910 its owners were assessed for an auto house. The nomination values it as an intact, high-style example and as a commuter's home.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Italianate","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Recorded as a dwelling in both original and present use, with no major alterations and no outbuildings.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:56.413215-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/90/7909/63790990/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/84002574.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002574/d8ec32e34a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002574/d8ec32e34a-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Durgin_House,_Reading_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Durgin_House,_Reading_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63790990","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durgin_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5316440"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/durgin-house-84002574/"}