{"nrhp_refnum":"89000465","name":"Aiken, Abraham, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"NY 22/Lakeshore Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Willsboro","county":"Essex County","state":"NY","lat":44.34343762100008,"lon":-73.36244677899998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-06-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A large two-and-one-half-story Federal style brick house on NYS Route 22 (Lakeshore Road), about three miles south of Willsboro, Essex County, New York, built in 1807 by Abraham Aiken on a four-acre parcel with a horse barn, tenants' cottage and stone-lined wells.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is a distinguished early example of Federal style brick residential design in Essex County, with high-style details unusual for the Champlain-Adirondack region. It retains extensive exterior and interior integrity, with minor Greek Revival and late nineteenth-century changes. It also housed one of the region's earliest Masonic Lodges (1807-1826).","narrative":"Built in 1807 by Quaker settler Abraham Aiken, this two-and-one-half-story brick house stands on the west side of Route 22 south of Willsboro, looking east across Lake Champlain toward Vermont. Its walls are laid in American bond using brick made from local blue clay along the Boquet River, set on a cut Chazy limestone foundation. The symmetrical five-bay front has an elliptical fanlight entrance and a Palladian window above it. Inside, a Georgian plan of four rooms around a central hall survives, with Federal mantels, wainscoting and original woodwork. The attic served as a Masonic Lodge meeting room from 1807 to 1826. Later changes include Greek Revival trim around 1840, an Italianate cornice in the 1870s, and alterations from the 1920s when the house operated as a guest house. A rear brick ell, horse barn, tenants' cottage and five stone-lined wells complete the four-acre farmstead, which is valued as an intact Federal style homestead.","period_of_significance":"1807-1880","architect_builder":"Abraham Aiken (Builder)","architectural_style":"Federal","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as a single-family residence; historic uses included a guest house in the 1920s-30s and a Masonic meeting hall in the attic.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:44.828532-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/89000465.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89000465/8c809073ea-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89000465/8c809073ea-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WillsboroNY_AbrahamAikenHouse.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">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:WillsboroNY_AbrahamAikenHouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75317752","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Aiken_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4668737"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/essex-county/aiken-abraham-house-89000465/"}