{"nrhp_refnum":"00001331","name":"Hennessy, Cornelius, Building","other_names":["Parker's Red and White"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1023 Chestnut St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Murphysboro","county":"Jackson County","state":"IL","lat":37.76347711300008,"lon":-89.33528103699996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2000-11-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick and sandstone commercial building at 1023 Chestnut Street on the south side of the courthouse square in Murphysboro, Jackson County, Illinois, built in 1896 for merchant Cornelius Hennessy.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is significant under Criterion C in architecture as a simple example of Richardsonian Romanesque commercial design, with rough-faced sandstone, brick walls and deeply inset arched windows. It was built largely with local materials, including Jackson County sandstone and a cast-iron storefront made by the local J. W. Lewis Foundry. It is described as the only remaining pre-1900 commercial building downtown with a sandstone primary facade.","narrative":"Built in 1896 on the south side of the courthouse square in Murphysboro, this two-story commercial building at 1023 Chestnut Street was erected for Irish-born merchant Cornelius Hennessy. Its front is rough-faced native sandstone, while the side and rear walls are red brick. Deeply inset arched windows, a parapet with four engraved pinnacles, and a cast-iron storefront made by the local J. W. Lewis Foundry show a modest Richardsonian Romanesque influence. It was the only commercial building around the square with a sandstone front, and it echoed the county jail that once faced it. The ground floor housed a grocery for decades, while the upper floor served as living space and apartments. After the grocery closed in the 1980s, new owners converted the ground floor to a coffeehouse in 1999. The original floor plan, wood floors, trim and storefront remain largely intact, so the building looks much as it did when completed.","period_of_significance":"1896","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Romanesque (Richardsonian Romanesque influence)","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Used as a coffeehouse on the first floor, with offices planned for the second floor; the building was vacated in the 1980s after about eighty-eight years as a family grocery, and repairs began in 1999.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.541838-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/17/8930/28893017/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/00001331.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00001331/dd97135d36-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00001331/dd97135d36-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cornelius_Hennessy_Building.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cornelius_Hennessy_Building.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"100008487","name":"Murphysboro Downtown Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/illinois/murphysboro-downtown-historic-district-100008487/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28893017","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelius_Hennessy_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16828029"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/jackson-county/hennessy-cornelius-building-00001331/"}