{"nrhp_refnum":"90000244","name":"Fuller, Joseph, House","other_names":["Beach Brook Farm"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"161 Essex St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Middleton","county":"Essex County","state":"MA","lat":42.61772178900003,"lon":-71.03581563199998,"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, central-chimney, wood-frame house at 161 Essex Street in Middleton, Massachusetts, built about 1714-1722 and also known as Beech Brook Farm. It sits on a rural hilltop site opposite a pond.","why_significant":"The house is significant for its architecture because it carries on a one-room-deep plan with an exposed, modestly decorated frame, placing it in the transition from the First to the Second Period of building. Its transverse first-floor binding beam used as the summer beam illustrates an unusual pattern that is concentrated in Middleton well into the eighteenth century.","narrative":"This house at 161 Essex Street in Middleton, Massachusetts, dates to about 1714-1722 and began as a one-room-deep, two-room-plan dwelling with a central chimney and two and a half stories. A rear lean-to with a \"Beverly jog\" and a gabled entry porch of about 1800 were added later. It faces southeast with its gable end toward the road, on a hilltop opposite a pond. Inside, the kitchen chamber has a beam with a plain narrow bevel and taper stop, showing the frame was meant to be seen, while the first-floor summer beam was designed to be boxed. The cellar holds a massive stone chimney base. Joseph Fuller, born in 1679 and son of Thomas Fuller, owned the land from 1699, and deeds first record the house in 1722. The house was listed for its architecture, as an example of the late transition from First to Second Period framing and the local use of a transverse binding summer beam.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"First Period/Transitional","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Condition listed as good; present use is residence, with five 20th-century sheds and animal shelters on the property.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:05.007399-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/78/7900/63790078/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/90000244.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90000244/8bb589adc1-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90000244/8bb589adc1-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Fletcher6","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joseph_Fuller_House.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Fletcher6</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:Joseph_Fuller_House.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63790078","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Fuller_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6283272"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/essex-county/fuller-joseph-house-90000244/"}