{"nrhp_refnum":"70000904","name":"Massey, Thomas, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Lawrence and Springhouse Rds.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Broomall","county":"Delaware County","state":"PA","lat":39.965936714000065,"lon":-75.35191240499995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1970-11-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Science","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-part farmhouse on Lawrence Road in Broomall, Marple Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, with an earliest section of brick built in 1696 as an addition to a log house. Stone additions followed about 1730, c. 1840 and c. 1860.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house documents three centuries of Pennsylvania building, from the 17th-century log house through 18th- and 19th-century additions. Its 1696 brick section, original fabric revealed during restoration, and the history of Thomas Massey, an early Friends settler, are presented as representative of plain Pennsylvania farm life.","narrative":"Built in stages beginning in 1696, this stone and brick farmhouse on Lawrence Road in Broomall, Marple Township, is a rare surviving example of Pennsylvania building across three centuries. Thomas Massey, a young indentured servant who arrived in 1683 and later became a township constable and official of the Friends Meeting, built the brick section as an addition to an earlier log house. His son Mordecai added a stone section about 1730 on the site of the log house, and further stone additions followed around 1840 and 1860. Restoration work, begun in 1964, uncovered original black walnut window frames, a pegged floor, a restored roof pitch using reused 1696 rafters, and poplar paneling never painted. The Massey family owned the house until 1925. The house is valued for its material evidence of early colonial farm life and for the record of its owners across generations.","period_of_significance":"17th Century-19th Century","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Restored; the 1930s modernization was reversed during restoration beginning in 1964","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:28.998319-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/70000904.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000904/3c0b8a650d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000904/3c0b8a650d-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"User:Smallbones on English Wikipedia.","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MasseyHouse.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Smallbones on English Wikipedia.</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MasseyHouse.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71994789","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Massey_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7792217"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/delaware-county/massey-thomas-house-70000904/"}