{"nrhp_refnum":"89000698","name":"House at 5 Bennett Street","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"5 Bennett St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Wakefield","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.49979107900003,"lon":-71.06885512399998,"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 cross-gabled, clapboard-sided Italianate house at 5 Bennett Street in the Junction District of Wakefield, Massachusetts, built about 1875-1881 and later expanded. It has served as the E. Boit Home for Aged Women.","why_significant":"The house is one of the largest and most elaborate in the Junction District, and its later porch is the best example of Queen Anne decoration in the neighborhood. It also reflects the town's industrial growth after the railroad arrived, and its long use as a charitable home for aged women, named for Elizabeth Boit.","narrative":"Built between about 1875 and 1881, this clapboard house at 5 Bennett Street sits in Wakefield's Junction District, facing the railroad tracks behind a low granite wall. Its Italianate details include paneled pilasters and arched gable windows. An 1882 view shows a smaller cross-gabled form, so the twin gables and the central door and verandah likely came with a later expansion. The most distinctive feature is the Queen Anne porch, with lathe-turned posts and balusters and jigsaw-cut brackets, regarded as the neighborhood's best example. The house may have been built for Marcus Simpson of the Wakefield Rattan Company. In 1894 it was bought by the Wakefield Home for Aged Women, a charitable group of Protestant townspeople, and it has been a retirement home since. In 1921 it was renamed for Elizabeth Boit, a local businesswoman and co-owner of a knitting mill. The street grew as rail-driven industry drew workers to the area.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Italianate (with a later Queen Anne porch)","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Condition described as good; present use is the E. Boit Home for Aged Women.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:01.800815-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/24/7910/63791024/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/89000698.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89000698/24ce6e1ab0-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89000698/24ce6e1ab0-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WakefieldMA_5BennettStreet.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_5BennettStreet.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63791024","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_at_5_Bennett_Street","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14715591"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/house-at-5-bennett-street-89000698/"}