{"nrhp_refnum":"84002755","name":"Nichols, James, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"273 Pearl St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Reading","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.53920544600004,"lon":-71.10011343499997,"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 small 1 1/2-story Georgian vernacular house with a gambrel roof at 273 Pearl Street in Reading, Massachusetts, built about 1795 by shoemaker James Nichols.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is significant as an early farm and shoemaking homestead, for its link to the locally important Nichols family and to James Nichols, a religious dissident, and as one of the few gambrel-roofed houses left in Reading. It is said to retain integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship and feeling.","narrative":"This small 1 1/2-story house at 273 Pearl Street in Reading was built about 1795 by James Nichols, a shoemaker who bought the land from another shoemaker. It has a gambrel roof on the front portion, a large center chimney, and a rear roofline extended as a saltbox. Clapboards cover the walls, and the door surround is very simple. A small house from Woburn Street was added in 1966. Few gambrel-roofed dwellings survive in Reading. Nichols probably made shoes for wholesale while farming his homestead. He was also at the center of a church dispute: excommunicated from the South Parish Church, he joined a church in the North Parish. Pearl Street was a major road north before the Andover-Medford Turnpike opened in 1806. Later owners included farmers who sold milk. The house is recognized as an early farm and shoemaking homestead, for its ties to the Nichols family, and as a rare local gambrel-roofed house.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"James Nichols (original owner and builder, c. 1795)","architectural_style":"Georgian vernacular","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":null,"vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:57.251794-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/15/7914/63791415/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/84002755.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002755/453b139be8-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002755/453b139be8-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ReadingMA_JamesNicholsHouse.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_JamesNicholsHouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63791415","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Nichols_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6140355"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/nichols-james-house-84002755/"}