{"nrhp_refnum":"71000691","name":"Chester Springs Historic District","other_names":["Old Art School,The","Orphan's School","Yellow Springs Spa","Good N"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"N of Chester Springs on Art School Rd., West Pikeland Township","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chester Springs","county":"Chester County","state":"PA","lat":40.09190326850006,"lon":-75.62475195539103,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1971-05-27","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Military","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 145-acre historic district centered on buildings along Art School Road in Chester Springs, Chester County, Pennsylvania, built around several mineral springs. It includes an old hotel and inn, two large residences, a bath house, a summer house over the Iron Spring, and a studio.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the property was a well-known spa from the early 18th century and the center of medical administration during the Revolution, when the Yellow Springs Hospital was built for Continental Army soldiers. It also cites its early 19th-century role as a health resort frequented by statesmen and performers, and the survival of its buildings in largely their 1830s appearance.","narrative":"Built around a group of mineral springs in Chester County, Pennsylvania, this 145-acre district centers on buildings along Art School Road. Visitors came for the waters from the 1720s, and an inn stood here by 1750. During the Revolution the Continental Congress had a hospital built on the site in 1777, with Dr. William Shippen, Jr. and Dr. James Craik directing the Middle Department from it. Architect Sebastian Schreiber designed the hospital, which operated until September 1781. Early nineteenth-century owners expanded the hotel, and statesmen including Daniel Webster and Henry Clay are traditionally believed to have visited. Five principal buildings date largely to the 1830s, including the hotel, two large residences, and the stone and stucco Jenny Lind Bath House. The wooden summer house over the Iron Spring is also of that period. The district is regarded as one of the oldest surviving Pennsylvania spas still largely as it was in the first half of the nineteenth century.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Sebastian Schreiber (architect of the Yellow Springs Hospital)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Protected under local ordinance since 1973 as the Chester Springs Historic District; a hospital building burned in 1902 and again later, leaving its stone foundations.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:30.006332-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/71000691.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000691/5411c0d20c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000691/5411c0d20c-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Ned Goode","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:YellowSpringsTavern.jpeg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ned Goode</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:YellowSpringsTavern.jpeg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71995041","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester_Springs_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5093716"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/chester-county/chester-springs-historic-district-71000691/"}