{"nrhp_refnum":"87001398","name":"House at 17 Cranston Street","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"17 Cranston St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.32079211000007,"lon":-71.10920998499995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1987-11-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A wood-frame single-family house at 17 Cranston Street in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, built in 1871 on a tri-hexagonal, Y-shaped plan with a central hexagonal cupola.","why_significant":"The house is presented as an architecturally unique dwelling in Boston, keeping much of its original Italianate and Carpenter Gothic appearance and unusual form. It is also tied to the rapid growth of Boston's streetcar suburbs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The nomination suggests organ builder and carpenter Archibald Scott may have designed it, possibly drawing on the mid-1800s octagon house movement and on church design.","narrative":"Perched on Cedar Hill in Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood, 17 Cranston Street is a wood-frame house built in 1871 on an unusual Y-shaped plan made of three hexagonal bays. A hexagonal cupola with slate fishscale siding crowns the roof, and triangular peaked casement windows fold around the corners of each bay. Beneath later asphalt siding, interlocking hexagonal wooden panels cover the walls. Carpenter Gothic and Italianate details include foliate brackets, a vergeboard and heavy molded trim. The lot was bought in 1871 by John and Archibald Scott. Archibald, an organ builder and carpenter, may have designed the house, which shows possible echoes of the octagon house fad and of church design. Many owners and tenants occupied it between 1874 and 1914. It is considered unique in Boston and reflects the development of streetcar suburbs on the former Boston and West Roxbury boundary. A porch added around 1957 is the only major addition.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1891-1925","architect_builder":"Scott Archibald (Archibald Scott, possible designer/builder)","architectural_style":"Late Victorian - Italianate","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Described as in good condition and still used as a single-family dwelling.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:01.2473-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/95/7966/63796695/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/87001398.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/87001398/bd2c276b5e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/87001398/bd2c276b5e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jameslwoodward","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:House_at_17_Cranston_Street_Boston_MA_02.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jameslwoodward</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:House_at_17_Cranston_Street_Boston_MA_02.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796695","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_at_17_Cranston_Street","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5914005"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/house-at-17-cranston-street-87001398/"}