{"nrhp_refnum":"86000506","name":"Morse-Tay-Leland-Hawes House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"266 Western Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Sherborn","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.22343180000007,"lon":-71.40026815199997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-01-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A residence at 266 Western Avenue in Sherborn, Massachusetts, built around 1700 by James Morse, consisting of a 2 1/2-story main block with a single-story rear wing.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is a well-preserved, finely detailed 18th-century house showing both Georgian and Federal detailing (Criterion C). It is tied to Sherborn's early development and to Dr. Jonathan Tay, a physician (Criterion A), and may hold information on early building practices because of its alterations (Criterion D).","narrative":"Located very close to the road on a two-acre lot at 266 Western Avenue in Sherborn, this clapboard house dates to about 1700, when James Morse built it on land his father, Capt. Joseph Morse, drew in a division of common land. It likely began as a small half house with a lean-to and grew through the later addition of parts from other structures. In the 1770s Dr. Jonathan Tay, a physician who came from Salem, bought it and kept an extensive practice in western Sherborn; nearby Brook Street was long known as Dr. Tay's Lane. The east-facing facade has a late Georgian entryway with Doric pilasters, a dentilated broken pediment and a fanlight with Gothicized tracery. The south side, with a lean-to, shows Federal-period window pediments. Its asymmetrical windows and chimney placement, combined with Georgian and Federal detailing and good integrity, support its recognition for architecture, local history and potential research value.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"James Morse (builder, born 1686)","architectural_style":"Georgian/Federal","criteria":["A","C","D"],"status_note":"Present use is residence; the barn northwest of the house burned about 1950 and is no longer extant.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:57.942762-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/72/7916/63791672/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/86000506.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86000506/f9444e1af2-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86000506/f9444e1af2-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Daderot","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Morse-Tay-Leland-Hawes_House_-_Sherborn,_Massachusetts_-_DSC02979.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Daderot</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Morse-Tay-Leland-Hawes_House_-_Sherborn,_Massachusetts_-_DSC02979.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63791672","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse%E2%80%93Tay%E2%80%93Leland%E2%80%93Hawes_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6914235"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/morse-tay-leland-hawes-house-86000506/"}