Mount Auburn Cemetery Reception House
Why it's listed
Built in 1870 at 583 Mount Auburn Street in Cambridge, this one-story building served as a reception house for funeral parties visiting Mount Auburn Cemetery. The cemetery trustees bought the site across the street from the cemetery gate after concluding that the two rooms in the gate itself were too small. They hired Boston architect Nathaniel J. Bradlee, who designed a stuccoed Bracketed Italianate building forty-six feet wide and thirty feet deep, with a hip roof and a center entrance. A portico on four tapered posts spans the front, and a pedimented cross gable with incised floral decoration holds a cartouche for a clock. A second reception house built on the cemetery grounds in 1896 replaced it, and the building later took on commercial use. It was listed for its link to the cemetery, the first garden cemetery in the country, and as one of two surviving Cambridge works by Bradlee, the other being Gray's Hall at Harvard.
Significance in brief: The building is significant for its association with Mount Auburn Cemetery, the first garden cemetery in the United States, which needed a reception house for funeral parties. It is also significant architecturally as the work of N. J. Bradlee, one of only two surviving Cambridge works by him, the other being Gray's Hall at Harvard.
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 83000818, listed June 30, 1983. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 583 Mt. Auburn St., Cambridge |
|---|---|
| County | Middlesex County |
| Listed | June 30, 1983 |
| Reference number | 83000818 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Architect / builder | Nathaniel J. Bradlee |
| Architectural style | Bracketed Italianate |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Architecture, Religion |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Present use is commercial; the building houses a marble and granite works. It was altered around 1900 and has not been moved. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Coordinates | 42.37573, -71.14530 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For a publicly owned building or structure, listing mainly matters when federal funds, permits or licences are involved: projects then go through Section 106 review so effects on the property are considered. Listing also strengthens applications for preservation grants and, for leased income-producing uses, can enable the federal rehabilitation tax credit.
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 83000818.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q16895402
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.