{"nrhp_refnum":"85003303","name":"Murphy, William, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"97 Sewall Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Brookline","county":"Norfolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.34177179000005,"lon":-71.11670960999999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-10-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Science","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national","state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A single-family Queen Anne house at 97 Sewall Avenue in Brookline, Massachusetts, built in 1886 according to the tax list. The architect is not known, and the house has a shingled exterior and a shingled barn.","why_significant":"The house is significant under criterion B as the home of Dr. William Parry Murphy, who shared the 1934 Nobel Prize in Medicine for a cure for pernicious anemia. It is also significant under criterion C as a well-preserved Queen Anne house with a finely balanced grouping of three front gables and delicate porch and gable details.","narrative":"This Queen Anne house at 97 Sewall Avenue in Brookline was built in 1886, according to the tax list, for Waldo Stearns, treasurer of the A.T. Stearns Lumber Company. It has a shingled exterior with varied shingle patterns, elaborate window treatment in the gables, and a spacious front piazza with a rounded bay. Its three front gables are finely scaled and balanced, and its porch columns and gable decorations are more delicate than those of the comparable house at 109 Sewall Avenue. The generous lot, shared with only a few neighboring houses, gives it a rural appearance. In 1930 the house was bought by Dr. William Parry Murphy, who with Dr. George Minot received the 1934 Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovering a cure for pernicious anemia. The property is recognized both for its association with Murphy and as a well-preserved example of Queen Anne architecture. A shingled barn survives on the grounds, and no alteration permits are on file.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Queen Anne","criteria":["B","C"],"status_note":"Present use is residential; no alteration permits are on file.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:56.585195-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/8/7927/63792708/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/85003303.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85003303/7c1ce3705b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85003303/7c1ce3705b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Thomas Kelley from Boston, MA","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Murphy_House,_Brookline,_Massachusetts.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Thomas Kelley from Boston, MA</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Murphy_House,_Brookline,_Massachusetts.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63792708","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Murphy_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14716042"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/norfolk-county/murphy-william-house-85003303/"}