{"nrhp_refnum":"72001134","name":"Weiss Hall","other_names":["Judge Edmund Taylor House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"98 S. River St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Wilkes-Barre","county":"Luzerne County","state":"PA","lat":41.246507389000044,"lon":-75.88637915599998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-11-27","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two and a half story house in Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, now used as a residence hall for Wilkes College. It was built circa 1849 as a Greek Revival house and substantially remodeled around 1886 in the Queen Anne style.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is a fine and one of the finest surviving examples of Queen Anne architecture in Wilkes-Barre, reflecting the style's popularity in the late nineteenth century. Its features include a stone and shingled tower, recessed balcony, stained glass, oak interior woodwork and decorative tile fireplaces. The house is also associated with Judge Edmund Taylor, its original owner, and with its later remodeling by Samuel L. Brown.","narrative":"Built around 1849 in Wilkes-Barre as a three-bay Greek Revival house for Judge Edmund Taylor of Luzerne County, the brick residence was substantially remodeled around 1886 for businessman Samuel L. Brown in the Queen Anne style. The alterations enlarged the house, added a two and a half story stone and shingled tower on the southwest corner, a recessed third-floor balcony, steep gables and large dormers. Interior features include oak paneling and a curved oak stair, stained glass, and ceramic tile fireplaces with ornate plaster ceilings. The building was later divided into apartments and offices, and in 1957 Aaron Weiss gave it to Wilkes College, which named it for him and uses it as a women's residence hall. It is valued as one of the finest surviving Queen Anne houses in the city, a reminder of the wealthy families who built along River Street in the late nineteenth century.","period_of_significance":"c. 1849-1886","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Queen Anne (Queen Anne-Romanesque); originally Greek Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Used as a residence hall by Wilkes College; the roof over the driveway and outside south porches were removed in recent years, and the dining room plaster panels were destroyed in the 1972 flood.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:12:57.263206-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/72001134.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72001134/611f21c7be-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72001134/611f21c7be-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Weiss_Hall_Wilkes_B_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:Weiss_Hall_Wilkes_B_PA.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"85002328","name":"River Street Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/river-street-historic-district-85002328/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71998730","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weiss_Hall","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7980399"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/luzerne-county/weiss-hall-72001134/"}