{"nrhp_refnum":"02000380","name":"Barclay House","other_names":["Hartshorne, Joshua, Estate","North Hill","The Barclay"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"535 and 539 N. Church St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"West Chester","county":"Chester County","state":"PA","lat":39.96717758900007,"lon":-75.60900015099998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2002-04-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Social History","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick Italianate residence begun in 1866-1867 on North Hill in West Chester, Chester County, Pennsylvania, later expanded with Colonial Revival additions in 1935-1936 into a boarding home for the elderly.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the property is significant for its association with the Quaker-run Barclay Home, which cared for elderly members from 1935 to 1950, and for its architecture, including the 1935-1936 Colonial Revival renovation and the surviving Italianate east block of a nineteenth-century country estate. It is also presented as meeting the religious property criteria consideration on the basis of architectural distinction and historical importance.","narrative":"Set on a large corner lot on the north side of West Chester's downtown, the brick house known as the Barclay Home began in 1866-1867 as a country residence for Joshua Hartshorne, a former store owner, legislator and Canal Commissioner who had made much of his fortune in Baltimore. Its east block retains Italianate features such as a wraparound porch, Roman-arched entrances and brownstone surrounds. In 1935-1936 the house was enlarged with Colonial Revival additions, including a west block with a porte-cochere and six-over-six windows, to serve as a boarding home. The Quaker organization that ran it had founded the home in 1894 for members without a permanent residence. The nomination regards the Colonial Revival renovation as a simplified example of institutional design in West Chester, and the estate house as a representative nineteenth-century country estate.","period_of_significance":"1866-1950","architect_builder":"Addison Hutton (architect, as cited in a newspaper account); Henry P. Sharpless (builder); Edward S. Paxson (architect of the carriage house conversion)","architectural_style":"Italianate; Colonial Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":null,"vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:38.054477-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/02000380.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02000380/4529b84dbe-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02000380/4529b84dbe-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BarclayWestChesterPA.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BarclayWestChesterPA.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"05000096","name":"West Chester Historic District (Boundary Increase)","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/west-chester-historic-district-boundary-increase-05000096/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71998673","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barclay_House_(West_Chester,_Pennsylvania)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4859940"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/chester-county/barclay-house-02000380/"}