{"nrhp_refnum":"85002368","name":"Clayton Historic District","other_names":["See Also:Johnston, Capt. Simon, House"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"203--215 & 200--326 James St., 500--544 & 507--537 Riverside Dr.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Clayton","county":"Jefferson County","state":"NY","lat":44.241933655000025,"lon":-76.08920614299996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-09-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A commercial historic district in the village of Clayton, Jefferson County, New York, covering parts of Riverside Drive and the north end of James Street. It contains thirty-one contributing buildings built between 1854 and the 1920s.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the district is one of the most intact, cohesive collections of late nineteenth and early twentieth century commercial buildings in northern New York. It reflects Clayton's growth as a mercantile center serving farms and the Thousand Islands resort trade, and its rebuilding after several fires. It is notable for intact cast-iron storefronts and a concentration of Italianate buildings.","narrative":"Clayton's main commercial blocks, along Riverside Drive and the north end of James Street on the St. Lawrence River, form a district of thirty-one contributing buildings dating from 1854 to the 1920s. Most are two- and three-story attached rows with ground-floor shops and upper-floor residences or storage. Italianate brick and wood buildings predominate, joined by three Richardsonian Romanesque stone-faced buildings and some early twentieth century concrete block and wood structures. The earliest survivor is the 1854 Barker Building, which keeps two cast-iron storefronts and set the scale for its neighbors. The streetscape took shape through commercial growth tied to shipping, lumbering, farming and Thousand Islands tourism, and through rebuilding after fires in 1853, 1856, 1887 and 1895. Although many storefronts have been altered, pressed-metal cornices and window crowns above them remain. Little new construction since the 1920s has left a cohesive main street of a kind rarely preserved in the region. A c.1932 gas station is the only non-contributing building.","period_of_significance":"1854-1920's","architect_builder":"Various","architectural_style":"Italianate, with Richardsonian Romanesque buildings and early twentieth century commercial buildings","criteria":[],"status_note":"The district remains in use as part of Clayton's only commercial area, with many storefronts altered but upper stories largely intact; the form lists the property as occupied.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:45.001241-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/85002368.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85002368/7cb032962f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85002368/7cb032962f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Stephen Schweitzer","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clayton_Historic_District.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Stephen Schweitzer</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:Clayton_Historic_District.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75318218","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clayton_Historic_District_(Clayton,_New_York)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5130254"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/jefferson-county/clayton-historic-district-85002368/"}