{"nrhp_refnum":"94000996","name":"Marconi-RCA Wireless Receiving Station","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Jct. of Old Comers Rd. and Orleans Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chatham","county":"Barnstable County","state":"MA","lat":41.70290700000004,"lon":-69.98127297862706,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1994-08-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Communications"],"significance_levels":["national","state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 11.33-acre complex of brick and shingled buildings and steel antenna towers on the southern edge of Ryder's Cove in Chathamport, Chatham, Massachusetts. It was built in 1914 by the J. G. White Construction Company for the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America.","why_significant":"The station was the direct successor to Marconi's South Wellfleet station and is described as a rare surviving example of an early wireless station. It became the first RCA radio station to handle only marine traffic. It is also valued as a largely intact group of simple, Craftsman Bungalow-influenced buildings.","narrative":"Built in 1914 on a gently sloping hillside above Ryder's Cove in Chathamport, this wireless receiving station is a campus of low red brick and shingled buildings arranged in a broad V. It includes a Main Operations Building, a Powerhouse, a Garage, a two-story Bachelors' Quarters/Hotel, six bungalow-style houses and three 100-foot steel antenna towers added in 1921. The J. G. White Construction Company built it for the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America to handle transatlantic messages, as the successor to Marconi's South Wellfleet station. After the Radio Corporation of America took over Marconi's assets in 1919, the station became RCA's first to handle only marine traffic, linking ships at sea with shore customers. In 1921 it received the first commercial marine vacuum tube transmitting apparatus. Because the other early installations no longer survive, it is described as a rare example of its type. The buildings remain largely as constructed, with only minor losses.","period_of_significance":"1914-1944","architect_builder":"White, James Gilbert","architectural_style":"Late 19th and Early 20th Century American Movements: Bungalow/Craftsman; No Style","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Buildings are in good to very good condition and described as unoccupied, although the Main Operations Building is overseen by a skeleton maintenance staff and the three antenna towers remain in use.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:03.56136-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/99/7939/63793999/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/94000996.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94000996/b9c6e326c5-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94000996/b9c6e326c5-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jerry Johnson","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marconi-RCA_Wireless_Receiving_Station.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jerry Johnson</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:Marconi-RCA_Wireless_Receiving_Station.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63793999","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marconi%E2%80%93RCA_Wireless_Receiving_Station","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6757778"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/barnstable-county/marconi-rca-wireless-receiving-station-94000996/"}