{"nrhp_refnum":"89000626","name":"Brackett, Edward A., House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"290 Highland Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Winchester","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.45006442600004,"lon":-71.12874583799999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-07-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A dwelling at 290 Highland Avenue in Winchester, Massachusetts, built about 1850-54 as an octagon house to the plans of its owner, Edward A. Brackett, on a wooded hillside on the west slope of the Middlesex Fells Reservation.","why_significant":"The house is an unusually inventive adaptation of Orson S. Fowler's 1848 octagon pattern book, using four interlocking octagons with varied rooflines for a picturesque effect. It is Winchester's only octagon house and is judged significant at least statewide. It also reflects the life of Brackett, a sculptor, naturalist and long-serving fish and game commissioner.","narrative":"Built between 1850 and 1854 at 290 Highland Avenue in Winchester, this octagon house stands on a wooded hillside on the west slope of the Middlesex Fells Reservation. Edward A. Brackett, a Maine-born sculptor, poet and naturalist, designed it himself after Orson S. Fowler's 1848 pattern book, A Home For All. Rather than copying Fowler, he devised a plan of four interlocking octagons with varied rooflines, giving the house a highly irregular, picturesque appearance. The original vertical board-and-batten siding and bracketed eaves were altered around 1900, when Brackett added a fifth octagon, a wraparound verandah and stucco cladding. These changes were consistent with his and Fowler's design intent. It is the only octagon house in Winchester and is considered significant at the state level for its inventive design. Brackett lived here until his death in 1908, and also served 37 years on the Massachusetts Fish and Game Commission. The house retains its setting and design nearly intact.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Edward A. Brackett","architectural_style":"Octagon","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Present use is as a dwelling; condition is described as excellent.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:00.90535-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/32/7911/63791132/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/89000626.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89000626/41c6bb3550-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89000626/41c6bb3550-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Winchester_MA_Edward_A_Brackett_House.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:Winchester_MA_Edward_A_Brackett_House.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63791132","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_A._Brackett_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5341435"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/brackett-edward-a-house-89000626/"}