{"nrhp_refnum":"86002070","name":"Littlefield-Roberts House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"16 Prescott St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cambridge","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.37307997700003,"lon":-71.11351079199994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-09-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story wood frame house at 16 Prescott Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, built in 1873 in the Mansard style by Joseph Littlefield, who served as architect and builder.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is one of the finest and most representative examples of the late Mansard style in Cambridge. Its chateau-roofed corner tower, iron cresting, bracketed cornice and masonry-imitating scoring show the taller, more aggressive outline typical of the 1870s. It was judged locally significant under Criterion C.","narrative":"Built in 1873 at 16 Prescott Street in Cambridge, this two-story wood frame house rises from a brick foundation to a low slate mansard roof. Joseph Littlefield designed and built it, then kept ownership until 1875, when he sold it to Orrin Roberts, a mason from Chelsea. The facade carries bold ornament, including a side entry porch with paired rusticated columns and a bracketed roof, a pedimented window above, and a two-story bay topped by a chateau-style roof with iron cresting. The first-story walls and columns are scored to imitate masonry, a technique also used on earlier Cambridge houses. The nomination presents the house as one of the finest examples of the late Mansard style in the city, showing the 1870s shift toward a more vertical, sharply outlined form. It was listed as a locally significant example of that style under Criterion C.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Joseph Littlefield, architect/builder","architectural_style":"Mansard","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Recorded in the 1960s as offices and in 1985 as residential; the 1985 form notes no major alterations apart from removed roof brackets.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:02.238843-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/86/7910/63791086/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/86002070.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86002070/4fcad47e56-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86002070/4fcad47e56-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CambridgeMA_LittlefieldRobertsHouse.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:CambridgeMA_LittlefieldRobertsHouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63791086","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Littlefield-Roberts_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6652938"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/littlefield-roberts-house-86002070/"}