{"nrhp_refnum":"15000753","name":"William Howard Taft National Historic Site (Boundary Increase and Additional Documentation)","other_names":["Alphonso Taft home"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2038 Auburn Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cincinnati","county":"Hamilton County","state":"OH","lat":39.119887519500054,"lon":-84.50781605326785,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2015-10-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Law"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The birthplace and boyhood home of President William Howard Taft at 2038 Auburn Avenue in the Mt. Auburn neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. It is a two-story brick house built in the early 1840s and enlarged with a rear wing in 1851 by Alphonso Taft.","why_significant":"The house is where the 27th President was born in 1857 and grew up until he left for Yale in 1874. It is the only surviving structure associated with Taft and his family. The Taft family also played a significant role in national politics and law for nearly a century.","narrative":"This brick house at 2038 Auburn Avenue in Cincinnati's Mt. Auburn neighborhood is the birthplace and boyhood home of William Howard Taft, the 27th President of the United States. Taft was born there on September 15, 1857, and lived in the house until he entered Yale in 1874. The core of the house dates to the early 1840s. Alphonso Taft bought it in 1851 and added a two-story rear wing. The building was Italianate in style until a fire in 1877 led to a raised upper ceiling and pressed metal exterior details. A 1964 restoration returned the exterior to its pre-1877 look. It is the only surviving structure tied to Taft and his family. The Taft family shaped national life for almost a century through law, cabinet service, the presidency, the Supreme Court and the Senate. The lot has shrunk to half an acre, and the rear wing has structural problems.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Italianate","criteria":[],"status_note":"The form describes the house as occupied, in public ownership and used as a museum. It has structural problems in the rear wing and has been restored to its pre-1877 exterior appearance.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:07.770927-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/66000612.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/15000753/4f0885c73f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/15000753/4f0885c73f-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Bedford at English Wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taft_NHS_1.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Bedford at English Wikipedia</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taft_NHS_1.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"73001464","name":"Mount Auburn Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/ohio/mount-auburn-historic-district-73001464/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":null,"wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft_National_Historic_Site","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8012587"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/hamilton-county/william-howard-taft-national-historic-site-boundary-increase-and-additional-docu-15000753/"}