{"nrhp_refnum":"89001538","name":"Potter-O'Brian House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"206 Newton St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Waltham","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.370250293000026,"lon":-71.22951754999997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-09-28","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick Italianate house at 206 Newton Street on Waltham's South Side, Massachusetts, built between about 1849 and 1854 by an unknown architect. It is a private residence.","why_significant":"It is one of Waltham's very few pre-20th century masonry houses and the only brick Italianate house in the city. It served as a mid-19th century boarding house run by the Potter family, then from 1874 as the home of grocer James O'Brien. Its history reflects the South Side's change after the Newton Chymical Company closed and the area became an enclave of Irish workers.","narrative":"Set on a rise above the Pine and Newton Street intersection in Waltham's South Side, 206 Newton Street is a brick Italianate house dating from about 1849 to 1854. Its main block is rectangular, two stories tall and five bays wide, with a flat roof, deep eaves, stone lintels, raised brick corner piers and two rows of brick dentils. A Colonial Revival porch with fluted Doric pilasters was added later. It is the only masonry Italianate house in Waltham. Deed research places its construction in the late 1840s, and the 1854 map shows it. In the 1870s it operated as a boarding house under Sarah Potter, probably serving workers from the nearby Newton Chymical Company. After that firm closed in 1872, the house was sold in 1874 to grocer James O'Brien. His ownership reflects the neighborhood's shift toward a largely Irish community after the South Side passed from Newton to Waltham.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Italianate","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Private residence in fair to good condition; the rear ell has 20th century siding.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:00.98688-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/71/7917/63791771/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/89001538.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001538/74c7931210-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001538/74c7931210-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Unknown authorUnknown author","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PotterOBrianHouse.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Unknown authorUnknown author</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PotterOBrianHouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63791771","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potter%E2%80%93O%27Brian_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7235243"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/potter-obrian-house-89001538/"}