{"nrhp_refnum":"86000512","name":"Ware's Tavern","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"113 S. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Sherborn","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.22748655200007,"lon":-71.36552498699996,"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":"Ware's Tavern is a clapboard former tavern and residence at 113 South Main Street in Sherborn, Massachusetts. The oldest section dates to about 1780 and the building was enlarged about 1840.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building retains integrity and is a well-preserved example of the transition from Federal to Greek Revival styling. It is also tied to Sherborn's early-to-mid 19th century growth as a community of household manufactories and light industry, increasingly linked to the outside world.","narrative":"Ware's Tavern, at 113 South Main Street in Sherborn, began as a house built about 1780 by Benjamin Ware for himself and his wife, Mehitable Leland. Their son Eleazer ran a tavern there by the early 19th century, and the second floor held a ballroom. By the 1830s it was one of at least three lodging places in town, also called a halfway house, on a road that was a main thoroughfare. In 1830 the ballroom served as the town's place of assembly while the first Meeting House was being built. The building is two stories and five bays wide, with a central entrance, a large brick chimney and a granite block foundation. It roughly doubled in size about 1840 with a northern section on a brick basement, and it shows both Federal and Greek Revival detailing. An early twentieth-century Colonial Revival entryway was added later. It is now a residence and was listed for its architecture and its link to Sherborn's growth.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Benjamin Ware (built oldest portion, ca. 1780)","architectural_style":"Federal/Greek Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Present use is as a residence; the grounds are described as well maintained.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:57.162017-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/32/7916/63791632/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/86000512.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86000512/4763937735-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86000512/4763937735-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SherbornMA_WaresTavern.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:SherbornMA_WaresTavern.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63791632","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ware%27s_Tavern","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7969232"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/wares-tavern-86000512/"}