{"nrhp_refnum":"84002721","name":"Kemp Barn","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"186 Summer Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Reading","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.52206683900005,"lon":-71.11633870999998,"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 carriage and horse barn at 186 Summer Avenue in Reading, Massachusetts, built around 1853 in the Italianate style for Robert \"Father\" Kemp. It stands behind the Kemp house on a 1.568-acre parcel.","why_significant":"The barn is significant as a product of the 19th-century real estate boom on Reading's West Side and as the barn of a railroad commuter. It is also tied to Robert Kemp, a shoe manufacturer and choral leader, and to public servants Charles and Katherine Howard. It forms part of a high-style Italianate ensemble with the house and retains its integrity.","narrative":"Behind a house at 186 Summer Avenue in Reading stands a barn built around 1853 for Robert \"Father\" Kemp, a Boston boot and shoe businessman. Kemp moved to Reading after his partner, John Mansfield, bought ten acres on Summer Avenue and sold half to him. He planned to raise apples and chickens while commuting to Boston on the railroad, which was then eight years old. The barn was probably built for his horse and carriage rather than for farm produce. Its design is as carefully detailed as the house. A cross gable breaks the rectangular form, and the first floor has a double sliding door flanked by doors with shouldered architraves. Pilasters support a bracketed, flush-boarded central gable pavilion, scrolled molding sits above the hayloft, and two semicircular windows flank it. A copper weathervane tops the roof. The barn was listed for its link to West Side development, to Kemp and later owners Charles and Katherine Howard, and as part of an Italianate ensemble.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Italianate","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Exterior alterations noted: slates replaced with asphalt.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:57.559161-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/31/7914/63791431/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/84002721.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002721/7b387b94ff-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002721/7b387b94ff-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kemp_Barn,_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:Kemp_Barn,_Reading_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63791431","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kemp_Barn","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6387009"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/kemp-barn-84002721/"}