{"nrhp_refnum":"85002306","name":"Griswold House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"639 Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Sausalito","county":"Marin County","state":"CA","lat":37.848732246000054,"lon":-122.48494242599998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-09-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Landscape Architecture","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story redwood carpenter gothic house at 639 Main Street in Sausalito, Marin County, California, built in 1893 by local millwright Charles Willard Griswold, with its surviving Victorian-era English-style garden.","why_significant":"It is one of very few nineteenth-century houses left in Sausalito and survived the 1919 fire and later suburban development. Its gothic form combined with oriental influences, and its elaborate carpentry detailing, have no equal in Marin County. The retained original garden is described as the best example of a Victorian middle-class residential garden in southern Marin.","narrative":"Built in 1893 at 639 Main Street in Sausalito, this two-story redwood house is described as carpenter gothic. Local millwright Charles Griswold, who had moved from New York, appears to have used it to show off his carpentry skills. The multi-gabled roof, corner tower, curved roof ends and rows of hanging wooden spikes give it a complicated form, and no architectural drawings are believed to have been prepared. Gothic shapes combine with oriental influences similar to those in mid-nineteenth-century chinoise wallpaper, reflecting Sausalito's trade ties with the Far East. The house is one of very few nineteenth-century dwellings in town, and it survived the 1919 fire. Roughly 80 percent of the exterior survives, with a single 1950s rear room addition. The surrounding English-style garden, with its walks, perennial beds, fruit trees, fencing and some plants thought to be original, is regarded as an outstanding example of a Victorian middle-class garden in southern Marin County.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899 (specific date 1893)","architect_builder":"Charles Willard Griswold","architectural_style":"Carpenter gothic","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in excellent condition and occupied as a private residence; the house has been restored with a wood shingle roof and original paint colors.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:28.284613-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/85002306.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85002306/4d0e8eb8de-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85002306/4d0e8eb8de-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Sanfranman59","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Griswold_House_639_Main_St_Sausalito_CA_3-21-2010_11-01-09_AM.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Sanfranman59</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Griswold_House_639_Main_St_Sausalito_CA_3-21-2010_11-01-09_AM.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123859680","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q133295688"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/marin-county/griswold-house-85002306/"}