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Seth Adams House

building in Massachusetts, United States

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 4, 2026
Entity authorityQ7456425
Source-derived summary

The Seth Adams House is a historic house at 72 Jewett Street, in the Newton Corner village of Newton, Massachusetts. Probably built in the mid-1850s, it is a well-preserved example of Italianate architecture. During the 1870s it was home to Seth Adams, one of Newton's wealthiest residents. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

Description and history

The Seth Adams House stands in a residential area on the northwest side of Newton Corner, at the northeast corner of Pearl and Jewett Streets, on a small lot with a low stone retaining wall on the street-facing sides. It is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, with a gabled roof and clapboarded exterior. It is oriented facing south toward Pearl Street, but its main facade is largely obscured by mature plantings. The eaves and gables are adorned with evenly spaced Italianate brackets, and the front windows have bracketed sills and lintels. The main facade is three bays wide on the first floor and four on the second, with entrance at the center, framed by sidelight and transom windows. A single-story porch extends across the front, supported by latticed square posts.

Editorial summary

“Seth Adams House” enters the record as building in Massachusetts, United States. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Seth, Adams and House can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewMost useful as a place-based finding aid connecting the present description to earlier jurisdictions, maps and built evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1986—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1849. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Seth, Adams and House.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Seth Adams House” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Seth, Adams and House provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7456425. Authority coordinates are 42.359, -71.191. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1986.

Critical limits

A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. 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.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Seth Adams House”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Seth Adams House primary sources, Seth Adams House archive and Seth research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Seth Adams House”?
  2. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Seth Adams 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.