{"nrhp_refnum":"03000885","name":"Kerr, Thomas R., Dr., House and Office","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"438 Fourth St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Oakmont","county":"Allegheny County","state":"PA","lat":40.51728084600006,"lon":-79.84035989199998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2003-09-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A late nineteenth-century Queen Anne inspired house and a separate 1905 professional office building at the rear of the lot, in Oakmont, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The house was built for Dr. Thomas R. Kerr.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is an unusually well-preserved and unaltered example of middle-class Queen Anne inspired housing in Oakmont, with original interior woodwork, hardwood floors with inlays, and pocket doors. It also argues the rear office building is an especially well-preserved example of a small professional office outbuilding, a building type that rarely survives. Survival is attributed largely to continuous ownership by one family.","narrative":"Built in the late 1890s in Oakmont, a Pittsburgh-area borough incorporated in 1889, the Kerr House is a two-and-a-half-story brick veneer dwelling with an asymmetrical plan, a wraparound porch, a steeply pitched hip roof with cross gables, and large double-hung sash windows. The design is attributed to D.I. Kuhn, whose practice is little documented, and the nomination suggests he may have worked from a period pattern book. Interior features include original hardwood floors with inlays, pocket doors, several fireplaces, and a rear service wing with a pantry, kitchen, and service stairs. Dr. Thomas R. Kerr erected a separate office building to the rear of the lot in 1905 so that his medical practice could be kept apart from family life. Its exterior has brackets, a canted bay, and a Palladian window. The Kerr family owned the property for nearly a century, which kept the house largely intact. It is listed for its architecture as a well-preserved example of its type.","period_of_significance":"1897-1905","architect_builder":"D.I. Kuhn (architect)","architectural_style":"Late Victorian: Queen Anne","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Operated as a house museum following the Kerr family ownership.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:37.903714-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/03000885.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000885/d22356430c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000885/d22356430c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Lee Paxton","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dr.ThomasR.KerrHouseandOffice.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Lee Paxton</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dr.ThomasR.KerrHouseandOffice.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996840","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Thomas_R._Kerr_House_and_Office","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5304441"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/allegheny-county/kerr-thomas-r-dr-house-and-office-03000885/"}