Littlefield-Roberts House
building in Massachusetts, United States
The Littlefield-Roberts House is a historic house located in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Description and history
The 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame house was built in 1873 by Joseph Littlefield, and is one of the finest late Second Empire houses in the city. The main facade has a heavily ornamented entry on the left, and a full-height projecting bay on the right that is capped by a polygonal roof. The roof is pierced by hip-roofed dormers whose windows have decorated surrounds.
The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 12, 1986.
The public source identifies “Littlefield-Roberts House” as building in Massachusetts, United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Littlefield-Roberts, House and building.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Littlefield-Roberts House”, the useful work is to connect “building in Massachusetts, United States” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6652938. Authority coordinates are 42.373, -71.114. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1873 and 1986.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Littlefield-Roberts House”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Littlefield-Roberts House primary sources, Littlefield-Roberts House archive and Littlefield-Roberts research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Littlefield-Roberts House” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.