{"nrhp_refnum":"89000526","name":"Cheney, Alpha M., House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"61 Chestnut St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Southbridge","county":"Worcester County","state":"MA","lat":42.07117001700004,"lon":-72.02713390399998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-06-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Stick Style (Victorian Gothic) house with a matching carriage house at 61 Chestnut Street, Southbridge, Massachusetts, believed to have been built about 1885. The architect is unknown.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the property is significant for its link to the town's late 19th-century real estate development and for its stylish Queen Anne/Victorian Gothic design. It is described as one of the few intact high-style examples of its type in Southbridge. It is also tied to Alpha M. Cheney, a major stockholder in the American Optical Company.","narrative":"Built about 1885 at 61 Chestnut Street in Southbridge, this Stick Style house and its matching carriage house form one of the town's few intact high-style examples of Victorian Gothic design. The picturesque silhouette comes from a projecting porch belvedere, one-story bay windows, cross gables, a peaked tower, half-timbered clapboard walls and stick ornament in the gable aprons. The carriage house, topped with a cupola, shares the period and style and is considered significant in its own right. The property is also tied to Alpha M. Cheney (1834-1897), a Southbridge native who rose from spectacle-factory apprentice to become one of the largest stockholders in the American Optical Company. Cheney owned several smaller houses across the street, probably used by company workers, and the neighborhood was developed in the early 20th century as worker housing. The house was recognized for its architecture and for its role in the town's late-19th-century growth. It is now used as a club house and is in good-fair condition.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Stick Style (Victorian Gothic)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Present use is a club house; original use was residential. Condition is given as good-fair, with a late-20th-century addition between the house and carriage house.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:00.841829-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/67/7935/63793567/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/89000526.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89000526/233b76b4ea-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89000526/233b76b4ea-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:61_Chestnut_Street,_Southbridge_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</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:61_Chestnut_Street,_Southbridge_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63793567","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_M._Cheney_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4735076"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/worcester-county/cheney-alpha-m-house-89000526/"}