{"nrhp_refnum":"84002772","name":"Parker, Capt. Nathaniel, Red House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"77-83 Ash St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Reading","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.52220332500008,"lon":-71.10404762199994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-07-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A vernacular Georgian house at 77-83 Ash Street in Reading, Massachusetts, built before 1765 for the Parker family. It was later used as a tavern and has a five-bay facade, center entrance and center chimney.","why_significant":"The house is significant as an 18th-century tavern on a major north-south coaching road and for its special designation on the 1765 map. It is also linked to the locally important Parker family and to Reading's Abolition movement, and it survives as a largely intact example of vernacular Georgian architecture.","narrative":"Captain Parker's Red House is a vernacular Georgian dwelling at 77-83 Ash Street in Reading, standing before 1765 on an old coaching road. It has a five-bay facade, a center entrance and a center chimney. Its south doorway is more refined than usual, with pilasters showing entasis on pedestals and a four-light transom. Later additions include a north ell, a south porch and a west extension. The house was already a landmark on the 1765 map, partly because it was painted, which was uncommon then. The land had long belonged to the Parker family. Captain Nathan Parker owned the house in 1765, and his son Colonel Nathan, the town's first postmaster, began keeping a tavern there in 1781. After a turnpike opened in 1806-07, the tavern lost its place on the main road. James Davis and his wife Caroline, a Parker descendant, lived here from 1831 to 1888. They were Abolitionists and may have sheltered runaway slaves. These links to tavern history, local families and abolition, together with the intact architecture, support its listing.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Vernacular Georgian","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Described as largely intact, retaining integrity of location, general design, materials, workmanship and feeling. Alterations include a two-story ell to the north, a two-story porch to the south and a one-story extension to the west.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:56.625161-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/81/7919/63791981/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/84002772.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002772/a4832ef293-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002772/a4832ef293-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ReadingMA_CaptNathanielParkerRedHouse.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_CaptNathanielParkerRedHouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63791981","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capt._Nathaniel_Parker_Red_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5036459"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/parker-capt-nathaniel-red-house-84002772/"}