{"nrhp_refnum":"72001106","name":"Cressbrook Farm","other_names":["Former Quarters of Brigidier General Duportail"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"S of Valley Forge, off U.S. 76","address_restricted":false,"city":"Valley Forge","county":"Chester County","state":"PA","lat":40.07719150500003,"lon":-75.45034352199997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-10-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Cressbrook Farm is a two and a half story stucco farmhouse built in two sections at Valley Forge, Chester County, Pennsylvania. The original section dates from shortly after 1740, with a nineteenth-century addition.","why_significant":"The house is associated with the winter encampment of Washington's forces at Valley Forge in 1777-1778, when French engineer Louis Lebegue Duportail used it as his quarters and planned the defenses. The nomination notes that his drawings were later found in the rafters of the room he occupied. The nomination also points to the 1825 addition's classical treatment.","narrative":"Cressbrook Farm is a two and a half story stucco farmhouse at Valley Forge in Chester County, Pennsylvania. The original portion was built by John Havard shortly after 1740 as a small farmhouse typical of early Chester County settlers. An addition was built to the front in 1825, with large evenly spaced windows, arched dormers, and a fanlight above the central door. During the winter encampment of Washington's forces in 1777-1778, French engineer Louis Lebegue Duportail, Chief of Engineers for the Continental forces, used the house as his quarters. He planned the defenses used at Valley Forge, and he is believed to have stayed in the room above the original kitchen. Drawings he made for those defenses were later found in the rafters of that room. The property was donated in 1932 to the University of Pennsylvania by an alumnus as a site for future expansion.","period_of_significance":"1740s and 1825","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","B"],"status_note":null,"vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:29.951341-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/72001106.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72001106/351eb3b96a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72001106/351eb3b96a-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cressbrook_Farm.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cressbrook_Farm.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"66000657","name":"Valley Forge National Historical Park","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/valley-forge-national-historical-park-66000657/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71998472","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cressbrook_Farm","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5184490"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/chester-county/cressbrook-farm-72001106/"}