{"nrhp_refnum":"87000225","name":"Fried, Samson, Estate","other_names":["Birch Hill"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"NY 74","address_restricted":false,"city":"Severance","county":"Essex County","state":"NY","lat":43.87579186550008,"lon":-73.71459659931011,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1987-02-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Birch Hill, the Samson Fried Estate, is a summer estate on the south shore of Paradox Lake near Severance, in the town of Schroon, Essex County, New York. It has a Shingle Style main house built in 1902, nine contributing support buildings and structures, and one non-contributing pump house.","why_significant":"The estate is argued to be architecturally significant as a distinctive early twentieth century Adirondack summer estate. Its Shingle Style exterior has Arts and Crafts interior decoration, and it keeps a full set of service buildings, remnants of designed landscape and a wilderness-like setting. It was built for Samson Fried, a New York City merchant and amateur musician who belonged to a group of musicians with summer retreats at Paradox Lake.","narrative":"Birch Hill is a summer estate on the south shore of Paradox Lake, near Severance in Essex County, New York. Its centerpiece is a large, rambling Shingle Style house completed in 1902, with a wraparound verandah, stone chimneys and a rooftop widow's walk. Inside, pine paneling, fireplaces, brass fixtures and Arts and Crafts ceilings survive largely intact. Around the house stand a boathouse, barn, hen house, garage, ice house, guest cottage, tennis court, well and stone gate posts and walls, together forming a nearly complete service complex on a wooded 34.3-acre parcel. Samson Fried, a New York City silk importer and amateur musician, had the estate built. He joined a circle of musicians who spent summers at Paradox Lake around their teacher, Edward Herrman. Family tradition credits Fried with the design, with technical help from architect Harry Allen Jacobs. The estate was listed for its architectural quality, its high integrity and its intact setting, and it remains in the Fried family.","period_of_significance":"1900-; specific dates 1902; 1920s","architect_builder":"Attributed to Harry Allen Jacobs (family tradition says Samson Fried designed it, with Jacobs's technical assistance)","architectural_style":"Shingle Style exterior with Arts and Crafts interior","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied private residence in excellent condition, largely unaltered, and still owned by the Fried family.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:45.464247-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/87000225.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75317777","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samson_Fried_Estate","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7410368"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/essex-county/fried-samson-estate-87000225/"}