Hathaway, James D., House
Why it's listed
This Greek Revival house at the corner of Pine and Purchase Streets in Fall River was built around 1843 by James D. Hathaway, a carpenter who was also its first owner and used it as his residence. It has a temple front with a monumental Ionic tetrastyle portico, a pediment with a detailed flat and raking cornice, flush-boarded walls and paneled corner boards. The design may be the work of Russell Warren, or Hathaway may have copied it from Warren's designs. The house is one of about seven temple-fronted Greek Revival houses built by early mill-owners and prosperous merchants after the 1843 fire in downtown Fall River. It sits in the Purchase Street neighborhood near downtown, an area that was fashionable from the 1840s to the 1860s before large-scale development began in the Highlands. Mostly intact, it is valued as a local example of the style and was listed for its association with the city's development and for its architecture. It is currently used as offices.
Significance in brief: The house is described as an outstanding, largely intact example of temple-fronted Greek Revival design, one of about seven such houses built by mill-owners and merchants after the 1843 downtown fire. It may have been designed by Russell Warren or copied by Hathaway from his designs. It meets Criteria A and C.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 83000676, listed February 16, 1983. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 311 Pine St., Fall River |
|---|---|
| County | Bristol County |
| Listed | February 16, 1983 |
| Reference number | 83000676 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Architect / builder | James D. Hathaway, carpenter (builder); Russell Warren? (possible designer) |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Level of significance | State |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Listed as currently in office use; described as mostly intact. |
| Acreage | 0.2 |
| Coordinates | 41.71319, -71.15357 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
National Register listing is honorary for a privately owned home: it does not by itself restrict what an owner may do with their own money, and it does not require public access. Restrictions come from local landmark or historic-district ordinances, which are separate (how they differ).
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit, which applies to income-producing buildings, but many states offer credits for homeowners. Listing also opens the door to preservation easements and to buying a plaque. Start with what listing means for homeowners, renovating a listed house and selling one.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 83000676.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q6132128
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.