{"nrhp_refnum":"89000696","name":"Richardson, Dr. S. O., House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"694 Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Wakefield","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.49529109200006,"lon":-71.06870664899998,"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 Greek Revival dwelling at 694 Main Street in Wakefield, Massachusetts, built about 1837-41 for Dr. Solon O. Richardson and moved to its present site in the mid-1840s.","why_significant":"The house is described as one of the most high style Greek Revival houses in Wakefield, with unusually fine detailing and the town's only gable-end house with five bays facing the street. It is also tied to Dr. Solon O. Richardson, a prominent doctor and manufacturer of Richardson's Sherry Wine Bitters who founded the Richardson Light Guards.","narrative":"This Greek Revival house at 694 Main Street in Wakefield was built between 1837 and 1841 for Dr. Solon O. Richardson and moved to its present corner site in the mid-1840s. It is regarded as one of the most high style Greek Revival houses in town. Unusually for Wakefield, it is a gable-end house with five bays facing the street. The center door sits in a deeply recessed surround with a fluted architrave, bossed cornerblocks, thin fluted pilasters, three-quarter-length sidelights and a four-light transom. A flushboarded pediment holds a gable window topped by a dummy fan. Richardson was a doctor who turned to manufacturing the medicinal Richardson's Sherry Wine Bitters, begun by his father in 1808. He redesigned the bottles, labels and wrappers and developed new marketing methods. He also founded the Richardson Light Guards in 1851, and the house may have served as its first armory. A rear addition has been made, but the house is otherwise little altered.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Greek Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as fair; a two-story rear addition dates from this century and a garage is noncontributing. The house is used as a dwelling.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:00.855781-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/20/7909/63790920/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/89000696.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89000696/878a6c7e2f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89000696/878a6c7e2f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WakefieldMA_DrSORichardsonHouse.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_DrSORichardsonHouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63790920","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._S._O._Richardson_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5304362"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/richardson-dr-s-o-house-89000696/"}