{"nrhp_refnum":"86001810","name":"Harding House-Walker Missionary Home","other_names":["See Also:Walker Home for Missionary Children"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"161--163 Grove St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Newton","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.341748120000034,"lon":-71.25023821599996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-09-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A mid-19th century Italianate dwelling at 161-163 Grove Street in Auburndale, Newton, Massachusetts, built around 1850 for Reverend Sewell Harding. It is clapboard, L-plan, and later used as an institutional group residence.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is significant for its association with Rev. Sewell Harding, a prominent local resident active in real estate speculation during Auburndale's early suburbanization. It is also described as one of Auburndale's best-preserved ornate L-plan Italianate residences. Later uses as a Lasell Female Seminary dormitory and as the Walker Missionary Home add to its local history.","narrative":"Built around 1850, this clapboard house at 161-163 Grove Street in Auburndale, Newton, is an L-plan Italianate residence with deep bracketed eaves, porches with quadrant struts, and 6/6 windows with bracketed lintels and sills. The entrance, with transom and sidelights, sits where the two wings meet. It was built for Reverend Sewell Harding, one of several ministers who speculated in real estate as Auburndale began to suburbanize. Harding sold the house in the mid-1860s to Thomas Williams, a Boston merchant, but kept the western part of the property, where he built a Mansard-style mansion that burned in 1911. Harding's daughter, Eliza Walker, founded the Home for Missionaries' Children on nearby Hancock Street. For several decades in the early twentieth century the house served as a Lasell Female Seminary dormitory. In 1925 the Walker Missionary Home bought it for use as a group residence. It remains well preserved, with a 20th century addition.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Italianate","criteria":["B","C"],"status_note":"Listed in good condition, with a 20th century addition; present use is institutional (originally a private dwelling).","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:02.217039-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/57/7919/63791957/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/86001810.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86001810/b2cd4c23ab-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86001810/b2cd4c23ab-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NewtonMA_HardingHouse.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:NewtonMA_HardingHouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63791957","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harding_House-Walker_Missionary_Home","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14715504"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/harding-house-walker-missionary-home-86001810/"}