{"nrhp_refnum":"90000142","name":"DeRosay-McNamee House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"50 Mt. Vernon St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cambridge","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.387744876000056,"lon":-71.10938691099994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1990-03-02","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 pressed-brick house at 50 Mt. Vernon Street in the Avon Hill section of Cambridge, Massachusetts, built in 1895-1896 to designs by William E. Clarke for brick manufacturer D. Warren DeRosay.","why_significant":"The house is a well-preserved, high-quality example of Colonial Revival architecture on a street where many other houses have been altered or subdivided. It is the most architecturally ambitious house in its neighborhood and unusual for its brick construction among wood-frame neighbors. It also reflects the last phase of Avon Hill's development, and is tied to a local brickmaker and a later mayor of Cambridge.","narrative":"Built in 1895-1896 at 50 Mt. Vernon Street in Cambridge's Avon Hill area, this two and one-half story house is faced in pressed red brick with limestone trim and a steep slate hip roof. Architect William E. Clarke designed it for D. Warren DeRosay, a local brick manufacturer who introduced mechanical dryers to Cambridge brickmaking. John H. H. McNamee, a bookbinder and Harvard Square property owner who served as mayor in 1902 and 1903, owned it after 1899. The symmetrical facade has two-story bow windows, a porch with reeded Corinthian columns, and copper-clad oriel windows on the side elevations. Inside, a central chimney anchors an unusual plan, and the finishes blend Queen Anne and Colonial Revival elements. It was listed because it is a well-preserved Colonial Revival design, the most ambitious in its neighborhood, on a street that has lost much of its original character, and because it illustrates the final phase of Avon Hill's development as a district of substantial houses.","period_of_significance":"1895-1907","architect_builder":"Clarke, William E.","architectural_style":"Colonial Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Converted to apartments in the early twentieth century, a use that continues; the porch and decks were restored and the exterior and hallways rehabilitated in 1988.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:03.733286-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/60/7913/63791360/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/90000142.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90000142/d034c49f94-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90000142/d034c49f94-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CambridgeMA_DerosayMcnameeHouse.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:CambridgeMA_DerosayMcnameeHouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63791360","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeRosay-McNamee_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5244069"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/derosay-mcnamee-house-90000142/"}