{"nrhp_refnum":"89000685","name":"Emerson-Franklin Poole House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"23 Salem St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Wakefield","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.50879542200005,"lon":-71.06890895499998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-07-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-a-half-story, five-bay Federal/Georgian vernacular house at 23 Salem Street in Wakefield, Massachusetts, dated 1795 and built before that date by Elias Emerson. It is used as a two-family residence.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is a well-preserved example of late Georgian/Federal vernacular architecture in Wakefield. It was also the birthplace and home of Franklin Poole, a local landscape artist whose paintings document historic South Reading and Wakefield. The house also contains wall murals by the itinerant painter Rufus Porter.","narrative":"This two-and-a-half-story house at 23 Salem Street in Wakefield was built before 1795 by Elias Emerson and is dated 1795. It has a low-pitched gable roof parallel to the street, five bays, a center entrance, paired windows in the end bays and a narrow boxed cornice, features described as typical of the town's Federal-style houses. An Italianate porch and a two-story ell were added in the 1850s or 1860s. The house was later sold to Timothy Poole, a house painter, and his son Franklin Poole was born there in 1808. Franklin, also a house painter, painted scenes of historic South Reading and Wakefield, and many of his pictures are held by the Wakefield Historical Society. He also served as a State Representative in 1847. The house is further noted for wall paintings by Rufus Porter, an itinerant muralist of the Federal period. It is now a two-family residence in fair condition.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Elias Emerson (builder, per historical statement); architect listed as NA","architectural_style":"Federal Vernacular (late Georgian vernacular)","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Present use is a two-family residence; condition listed as fair.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:01.533231-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/11/7907/63790711/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/89000685.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89000685/2ca66bfd0d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89000685/2ca66bfd0d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WakefieldMA_EmersonFranklinPooleHouse.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:WakefieldMA_EmersonFranklinPooleHouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63790711","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerson%E2%80%93Franklin_Poole_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5370842"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/emerson-franklin-poole-house-89000685/"}