Built 1866 (1866) Designated CP November 22, 1996 Area 1,619 m² | NRHP Reference # 85001576 Opened 1866 Added to NRHP 18 July 1985 | |
 | ||
Location 84 Nahant St., Lynn, Massachusetts Part of Diamond Historic District (#96001040) Architectural style Second Empire architecture in Europe Similar High Rock Tower Reservation, Nahant Beach Reservation, Roseland Cottage, Manning Bowl, Wellfleet Drive‑In Theater | ||
The Lucian Newhall House is a historic house at 84 Nahant Street (on its corner with Ocean Street) in Lynn, Massachusetts. Built in 1866 for a prominent local businessman, it is a high-quality example of Second Empire architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (as being at 281 Ocean Street) in 1985, and included in the Diamond Historic District in 1996.
Description and history
The Lucian Newhall House stands in Lynn's Diamond District, a residential area where the city's elite lived. It stands at the northeast corner of Nahant and Ocean Streets, presenting finished facades to both streets. It is a 2-1/2 story wood frame structure, with a flared mansard roof providing a full third floor; at the center of the roof is a square cupola with three round-arch windows on each side, and a broad-eaved hip roof with an elaborate bracketed cornice. The building corners have wooden block quoining, and the eaves are, like that of the cupola, adorned with an elaborated bracketed cornice. The Nahant Street facade is three bays wide, with single-story projecting bays flanking a center entrance. The entrance is sheltered by an elaborate porch that is joined to the roofs of the flanking bays, and is itself topped by a third projecting bay. Dormers with elaborate window surrounds house round-arch windows; the center one has a double window and is recessed. The Ocean Street facade has a similar plan and decoration, but its ground-floor bays are rectangular, and the three roof dormers are identical.
The house was built in 1866 for Lucian Newhall, descendant of early Lynn settlers. NewHall was one of the first local businessmen to establish a shoe factory in the city's Central Business District (in 1847), and remained in that business until 1875. Newhall's house is one of the most visually prominent in the Diamond District.