{"nrhp_refnum":"86001052","name":"Flagg-Coburn House","other_names":["Coburn House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"722 E. Merrimack St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lowell","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.64603317900003,"lon":-71.28667823299998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-05-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 1926 stone-faced, cottage-like house at 722 East Merrimack Street in Lowell, Massachusetts, on a bluff above the Merrimack River. It was designed by architect Ernest Flagg and built by Rolf E. Runnels for Frederick W. Coburn.","why_significant":"It is the earliest known New England example of Ernest Flagg's design for a small, inexpensive suburban bungalow, built with his modular stone-and-concrete system without tie beams or a basement. As the work of a master architect, it meets Criterion C at the local and state levels. It also reflects an unusual choice by an arts-minded family in a city whose 1920s construction was mostly modest bungalows.","narrative":"Perched on a granite ledge above the Merrimack River in eastern Lowell, this 1926 house looks like a low European country cottage, with a steep roof, deep eaves and fieldstone chimneys. Architect Ernest Flagg of New York designed it for Frederick W. Coburn, a Lowell-born historian whose family had taken part in the city's early industrial development. Walls of rubblestone around a poured concrete core, a concrete slab in place of a basement, and distinctive ridgeline dormers reflect Flagg's system for inexpensive small houses that avoided tie beams. Local builder Rolf E. Runnels carried out the construction. The house is the earliest known New England example of this design. It stood apart from the modest bungalows and two-family houses typical of Lowell in the 1920s, a decision tied to a family interested in the arts. The Coburns lived there until the late 1940s. The interior keeps its original plan, and the main change is the later enclosure of a rear patio.","period_of_significance":"1900- (specific date 1926)","architect_builder":"Architect Ernest Flagg; builder Rolf E. Runnels","architectural_style":"Old World cottage-like small house of rubblestone and concrete, based on Flagg's modular small-house system","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Occupied private residence; interior retains original plan, and the rear patio was later enclosed as indoor space.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:02.000702-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/26/7956/63795626/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/86001052.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86001052/b718e7bc05-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86001052/b718e7bc05-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Daderot","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flagg-Coburn_House,_Lowell,_MA_-_DSC00080.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:Flagg-Coburn_House,_Lowell,_MA_-_DSC00080.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795626","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flagg-Coburn_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5456926"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/flagg-coburn-house-86001052/"}