{"nrhp_refnum":"02000892","name":"Berkley Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Section of Snyder Rd. bet PA 61 and Berkley Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Ontelaunee","county":"Berks County","state":"PA","lat":40.42881509400007,"lon":-75.93827089176708,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2002-08-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district in Ontelaunee Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania, north of Reading, made up of a small village-scale group of residences, outbuildings and a barn along Berkley Road and the Willow Creek. The core Parvin homestead dates to 1758 and the Davies House and other homes date to the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the district illustrates colonial and early Republic village architecture in northern Berks County, with Georgian and Federal features retained in expanded eighteenth-century cores and a rare hybrid barn combining Switzer and Standard Pennsylvania barn methods. It also argues the Parvin homestead may have been a station on the Underground Railroad, based on a hidden cold cellar alcove and family history.","narrative":"Along Berkley Road and the Willow Creek in Ontelaunee Township, Berks County, stands a small village of stone and frame houses whose cores date to the eighteenth century. The Parvin homestead, a limestone house built in 1758 with a date stone, was enlarged in 1856 by Jacob Parvin to nine rooms and retains its center-hall plan and original fireplaces. Behind it stand a summer kitchen over a meat cellar, an icehouse, and a bark house remnant from a tannery operated between 1735 and 1916. The Davies House, expanded around 1830 to a five-bay Georgian façade, keeps its six-over-six windows and dentil cornice. The district is significant for its architecture, including a barn that combines Switzer and Standard Pennsylvania construction, and for the alcove in a cold cellar that the nomination links to the Underground Railroad through archaeological finds and family history.","period_of_significance":"1758-c.1856","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Colonial: Georgian; Early Republic: Federal; Other: Early Pennsylvania Standard Barn","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 17:11:37.762978-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/02000892.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996851","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkley_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15198541"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/berks-county/berkley-historic-district-02000892/"}