{"nrhp_refnum":"05000451","name":"Furnace Hills Tenant House","other_names":["Foxfire House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Unpaved Rd approx. 500 ft. E of Project Dr.","address_restricted":false,"city":"West Cocalico Township","county":"Lancaster County","state":"PA","lat":40.265505879000045,"lon":-76.20543511599999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2005-05-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-a-half-story Pennsylvania German bank house of red sandstone in the Furnace Hills of West Cocalico Township, Lancaster County, built ca. 1830-1850, with a stone stable and reconstructed outbuildings on a six-acre farmstead.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is a well-preserved example of the perpendicular bank house type (Swiss Weinbauern) with its traditional division of a lower work level and upper living space. It states that few such houses survive in Pennsylvania and that the form is rare in the region. The house is regarded as locally significant under Criterion C for its architectural design and materials.","narrative":"Built of red sandstone into the slope of a ridge, this two-and-a-half-story house in the Furnace Hills of West Cocalico Township dates to roughly 1830 to 1850. Its perpendicular orientation places the kitchen and cold storage in the lower bank level, with the living quarters above, following a European vernacular tradition associated with Swiss Weinbauern houses. The house has an iron ten-plate stove, a root cellar, a parlor and bedroom with peg rails, and a loft with pegged roof framing. Ownership passed through ironmaster Robert Coleman's Elizabeth Furnace estate, then to Abraham Kurtz in 1852, and later to Philip Good and the Bickhart family. The surviving form is rare, with fewer than fifteen perpendicular bank houses of this kind documented in Pennsylvania. The property is significant for its architecture and the survival of its original shell and interior layout, and it is now used by Girl Scouts to teach Pennsylvania German life in the nineteenth century.","period_of_significance":"ca 1830-1850","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Pennsylvania German bankhouse; vernacular perpendicular bank house (Swiss Weinbauern type)","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Restored to its original footprint in 1975 after removal of an 1890s frame addition; owned and used by the Penn Laurel Girl Scout Council as a living history site.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:10:27.17601-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/05000451.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000451/f39a0232ca-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000451/f39a0232ca-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Jerrye &amp; Roy Klotz, MD","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FURNACE_HILLS_TENANT_HOUSE,_LANCASTER_COUNTY,_PA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jerrye &amp;amp; Roy Klotz, MD</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:FURNACE_HILLS_TENANT_HOUSE,_LANCASTER_COUNTY,_PA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71998681","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furnace_Hills_Tenant_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5509618"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/lancaster-county/furnace-hills-tenant-house-05000451/"}