{"nrhp_refnum":"89001487","name":"Dow, Lenoir, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"215 Adams St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Waltham","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.36334216800003,"lon":-71.24202338099997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-09-28","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Queen Anne style private residence at 215 Adams Street on Waltham's South Side, Massachusetts, built in 1888 after the lot was purchased on March 19, 1888. The architect is unknown.","why_significant":"The house represents the South Side's residential development by the American Waltham Watch Company in the 19th century, which reflected the company's industrial prosperity. It is also one of a handful of well-detailed, well-preserved Queen Anne dwellings built for watch company employees. It is cited under criteria A and C.","narrative":"Built in 1888 at 215 Adams Street, this Queen Anne house belongs to the South Side building boom of the late 1880s and early 1890s in Waltham. Streets and house lots had been laid out west of Moody Street in 1854, but many lots stayed empty until the American Waltham Watch Company prospered and most nearby residents came to work for it. The house has an irregular plan, an encircling verandah with turned posts and spool work transom, original double doors, and a two-story octagonal bay with sawcut shingle detailing and a pointed-arch attic window. A slate-shingled hip roof carries cast iron cresting with a fleur de lis motif. Lenoir A. Dow, a machinist, and his wife Flora bought the land in 1888; later owners included Alvin S. Litchfield and, by 1927, carpenter Edwin S. Prescott. The house is valued as a well-preserved example of worker housing tied to the watch industry and of Queen Anne design.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Queen Anne","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Present use is a private residence; condition is described as good to excellent, with no major alterations and a non-contributing garage.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:00.735147-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/1/7922/63792201/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/89001487.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001487/0d6c0aa114-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001487/0d6c0aa114-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Waltham_MA_Lenoir_Dow_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:Waltham_MA_Lenoir_Dow_House.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63792201","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenoir_Dow_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6523045"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/dow-lenoir-house-89001487/"}