{"nrhp_refnum":"84002760","name":"Nichols, Richard, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"483 Franklin St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Reading","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.62539710000004,"lon":-71.12386342999997,"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 First Period farmhouse at 483 Franklin Street in Reading, Massachusetts, dated c. 1733 from the will of Richard Nichols, Sr. It is a clapboard house with a large central chimney, set high on an embankment facing south.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is significant as the center of one of the earliest and most extensive homesteads in Reading and for its long link with the locally prominent Nichols family. It is also valued for its early date and as a good example of First Period architecture. It is said to retain integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship and feeling.","narrative":"Built about 1733, this clapboard farmhouse at 483 Franklin Street in Reading is a good example of First Period building, a tradition that still reflected late medieval, organic rather than symmetrical planning. It may first have been a three-bay half-house, later enlarged by two bays and then by a third bay to the east. Small six-over-six windows touch the plate on the second story, the door surround is plain, and a large central chimney probably organized the interior rooms. The foundation is rubblestone. The Nichols family held land here from the first grant to John Nichols in 1686/7, and the house was owned and farmed by the family until 1893. Two Nichols farmsteads in the Franklin Street area covered over 143 acres, much of it still thinly settled because of long family ownership and the Meadow Brook Golf Club links. The house was listed for its early homestead role, family association and architecture.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"First Period","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Listed as a private residence; later additions include an ell, a west addition and an east addition, and there is a two-car garage.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:57.549274-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/67/7907/63790767/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/84002760.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002760/03e466ceae-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002760/03e466ceae-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ReadingMA_RichardNicholsHouse.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_RichardNicholsHouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63790767","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nichols_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7328065"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/nichols-richard-house-84002760/"}