{"nrhp_refnum":"89001287","name":"Tufts, Peter and Oliver, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"78 Sycamore St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Somerville","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.39097887200006,"lon":-71.10001940899997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-09-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-one-half-story, five-bay gambrel-roofed dwelling at 78 Sycamore Street in the Winter Hill area of Somerville, Massachusetts, built between 1714 and 1719 and now used as a residence.","why_significant":"It is one of only two surviving 18th century houses in the Winter Hill area of Somerville. It is important architecturally and historically to the town's development and represents the shift from an agricultural to an industrial community. It retains integrity of design, materials, workmanship, feeling and association.","narrative":"Located at 78 Sycamore Street in Somerville's Winter Hill area, this gambrel-roofed dwelling was built between 1714 and 1719 and is one of only two 18th century houses surviving in the neighborhood. It is two and one-half stories and five bays wide, and it keeps its original form despite later changes. Those changes include shingle sheathing, which was being replaced with clapboards and 6/6 sash windows, and a mid-19th century Italianate doorhood with heavily carved brackets. The house was moved in 1892 to a position farther back on the same lot. It is named for Peter Tufts, who bought it in 1778, and Oliver Tufts, and the name commemorates the family's ownership from 1787 into the 1900s. Tufts eventually assembled a farm reaching west to Central Street and south of the Boston-Lowell railroad tracks. The house reflects Somerville's change from farmland to industrial community, and it is still in residential use in good condition.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Georgian with Federal alterations","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Condition is stated as good; the house is in residential use and was being rehabilitated with clapboards and 6/6 sash windows.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:01.908497-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/74/7916/63791674/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/89001287.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001287/98a361b8bc-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001287/98a361b8bc-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Swampyank at en.wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peter_and_Oliver_Tufts_House_in_Somerville_MA_USA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Swampyank at en.wikipedia</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:Peter_and_Oliver_Tufts_House_in_Somerville_MA_USA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63791674","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_and_Oliver_Tufts_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7177871"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/tufts-peter-and-oliver-house-89001287/"}