{"nrhp_refnum":"72001123","name":"Lane House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"14 N. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Mercersburg","county":"Franklin County","state":"PA","lat":39.828947233000065,"lon":-77.90432645099997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-01-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two and one-half story brick house in the Federal style in Mercersburg, Franklin County, Pennsylvania. It is the house where Harriet Lane Johnston was born.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is an unusually fine example of a Federal house type once common in Southern Pennsylvania but now scarce. It is also linked to Harriet Lane Johnston, hostess of the White House from 1857 to 1861, who was born there.","narrative":"Mercersburg's Lane House is a two and one-half story brick Federal-style house with five bays across the front, double chimneys, a fanlight over the front door, and shuttered six-over-six windows. It was built about 1828 by Thomas Lane. The house was later altered: its dormers were removed and it was Victorianized, and the two first-floor rooms to the south were combined into a store room. Much of the original interior survives, including an arched-ceiling central hall, plinth blocks with bull's-eye corner details, interior shutters, and oval panels under the north front windows. The house is significant as the birthplace of Harriet Lane Johnston, who later served as hostess of the White House from 1857 to 1861 during the presidency of her uncle, James Buchanan. The house is also regarded as an unusually fine example of a Federal house type that was once common in Southern Pennsylvania but is now scarce.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1828","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Federal","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Altered: the house was Victorianized and its dormers removed; the first-floor south rooms were made into a store room and are now one large room; the present owners are attempting to restore it.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:30.963364-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/72001123.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72001123/1ac40360f3-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72001123/1ac40360f3-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lane_House_Mercersburg_FrankCo_PA.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lane_House_Mercersburg_FrankCo_PA.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"78002403","name":"Mercersburg Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/mercersburg-historic-district-78002403/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996494","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lane_House_(Mercersburg,_Pennsylvania)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6485406"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/franklin-county/lane-house-72001123/"}