{"nrhp_refnum":"90000172","name":"Mason, John, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1303 Massachusetts Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lexington","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.441325763000066,"lon":-71.21440851599993,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1990-03-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-a-half-story clapboarded house at 1303 Massachusetts Avenue, Lexington, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, built about 1715 with a later lean-to and a long ell. Architect unknown.","why_significant":"The house retains integrity in its late First Period frame, which embodies distinctive characteristics of form and construction (Criterion C). It is one of four early 18th-century Lexington houses with quirk-beaded frames and has an all-principal-rafter roof, a late First Period variant found mainly in Middlesex County. It also has relatively rare longitudinal summer beams on the second floor.","narrative":"Built around 1715 at 1303 Massachusetts Avenue in Lexington, this clapboarded house began as a modest three-bay, one-bay-deep dwelling and was later enlarged with a rear lean-to and a long ell added in several stages. Its exterior carries Greek Revival vernacular trim, and two rear chimneys replaced an earlier central chimney in the early 19th century. Inside, the southeast and southwest chambers preserve First Period framing with inch-wide quirked beads on plates, girts and longitudinal summer beams, a width matched in Lexington only by the Buckman Tavern. The attic holds thirteen sawn principal rafters, a late First Period roof type found mainly in Middlesex County and considered a source of information on regional framing practice. John Mason, who owned the site by 1706 and recorded the deed in 1714, served Lexington as constable, town clerk and selectman.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"1st Period core with Federal vernacular exterior (Greek Revival vernacular exterior trim noted in the description)","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Condition is listed as good, and the house is in present residential use.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:03.570454-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/91/7907/63790791/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/90000172.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90000172/609038c6a4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90000172/609038c6a4-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Abdalian, Leon H.","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Mason_House,_1303_Massachusetts_Avenue,_Lexington,_Mass..jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Abdalian, Leon H.</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Mason_House,_1303_Massachusetts_Avenue,_Lexington,_Mass..jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63790791","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mason_House_(Lexington,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6247083"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/mason-john-house-90000172/"}