{"nrhp_refnum":"66000661","name":"Printzhof, The","other_names":["Governor Printz Park"],"category":"site","location":{"address":"Taylor Ave. and 2nd St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Essington","county":"Delaware County","state":"PA","lat":39.861503064500056,"lon":-75.30327623694976,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-10-15","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1961-11-05","areas_of_significance":["Historic - Non-Aboriginal","Politics/Government"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Stone foundations and ruins of the Printzhof, the residence of Governor Johan Printz, within the seven-acre Governor Printz Park on Tinicum Island in Essington, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The site is a ruin, with only the uncovered foundations remaining visible.","why_significant":"The site is the location of the capital of New Sweden from 1643 to 1654, described as the first permanent European settlement in what became the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Printzhof was a log residence built with imported Swedish brick, lumber and glass, and is regarded as one of the most elaborate structures in the New World at the time. Archeological excavation in 1937 uncovered its stone foundations, the only visible remains of the settlement.","narrative":"Tinicum Island, now part of the mainland at Essington, was the seat of the colony of New Sweden from 1643 to 1654. Governor Johan Printz built Fort New Gothenburg there, with a log house for himself called the Printzhof, along with a chapel, a storehouse and a brewery. The Printzhof was made of hewn logs and fitted with brick fireplaces and chimneys of Swedish brick, Swedish lumber and glass windows, making it an unusually luxurious residence for the period. A fire in the winter of 1645 destroyed much of the settlement, and Printz rebuilt the capital on a larger scale. Rivalry with the Dutch of New Netherland, including the construction of Fort Casimir, shaped the colony's final years before its capture by Stuyvesant. The surviving stone foundations of the Printzhof, uncovered by excavation in 1937, are now the only visible remains of the settlement and lie within a public park along the Delaware River. The site is significant as the place where European settlement in the region began to take a durable form.","period_of_significance":"1643-54","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Ruins; foundations uncovered by archeological excavation in 1937 and contained within Governor Printz Park.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:29.96228-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/66000661_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000661/c24f29f17e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000661/c24f29f17e-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Printz.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Printz.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71994189","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Printzhof","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7758363"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/delaware-county/printzhof-the-66000661/"}