{"nrhp_refnum":"72000468","name":"Tinker Swiss Cottage","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"411 Kent St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Rockford","county":"Winnebago County","state":"IL","lat":42.26529171100003,"lon":-89.10205370399996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-12-27","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Landscape Architecture","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Swiss chalet-style house at 411 Kent Street, Rockford, Illinois, on a limestone bluff above Kent Creek. Robert Tinker built it in 1865, and the Rockford Park District now owns it as a house museum.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the cottage preserves a one-family home with its original furnishings used over about 80 years, giving a full picture of 19th-century family life. It also points to the life of Robert Tinker, whose interests included architecture, landscaping, art and invention, and who took part in Rockford's civic and industrial life.","narrative":"Perched on a limestone bluff on the south bank of Kent Creek in Rockford, Illinois, this house was modeled on the Swiss chalets that Robert Tinker saw on a European trip in 1862. Built in 1865, it has whitewashed limestone walls on the ground floor, which held laundry, furnace room, root cellar, storerooms and an office, while the two upper floors were the family's living space. Six-foot eaves rest on large serpentine brackets, small balconies sit outside the bedroom windows, and a veranda wraps around the front. An iron suspension bridge crosses the creek nearby. Inside, the original furnishings remain, from the elegant parlors, dining room, library and bedrooms to churns, utensils, quilts and beadwork. They were used by one family for about eighty years. The property is valued for that unusually complete record of nineteenth-century domestic life and for the story of Tinker, whose interests spanned architecture, landscaping, art and invention, and who was active in the city's civic and industrial affairs.","period_of_significance":"19th Century","architect_builder":"Robert Tinker (owner, who copied Swiss chalet designs)","architectural_style":"Swiss chalet","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in good condition, unaltered and on its original site; used as a museum open to the public on a restricted basis.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:34.884752-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/67/8943/28894367/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/72000468.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000468/42d15d3b22-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000468/42d15d3b22-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Rattis irrittis at en.wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tinker_cottage.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Rattis irrittis at en.wikipedia</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tinker_cottage.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28894367","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinker_Swiss_Cottage","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7808331"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/winnebago-county/tinker-swiss-cottage-72000468/"}