{"nrhp_refnum":"72001182","name":"Cookes House","other_names":["Tom Paine's House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"438-440 Codorus St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"York","county":"York County","state":"PA","lat":39.95487278600007,"lon":-76.66786249799998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-10-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A stone house in York, York County, Pennsylvania, built in 1761, with a four-window front facing east. It was converted into a double dwelling around the turn of the twentieth century.","why_significant":"The house is described as the third oldest surviving structure in York and the earliest surviving stone building there. Local tradition links it to Thomas Paine and to the period when York briefly served as the seat of the United States government in 1777-1778. It is also presented as an example of blended Germanic and Georgian architectural features.","narrative":"Built in 1761 as a stone house with a four-window front facing east, the Cookes House in York, Pennsylvania, combines Germanic and Provincial Georgian features. Its first-floor windows have stone arched supports, and a date stone bearing the builder's inscription remains above the original front door location. The gable ends retain original cornice boards with an upsweep about one foot from their lower ends, and the house originally had the central chimney system used by German settlers. Around the turn of the twentieth century, the house was converted into a double dwelling, with a brick double entrance added to the north gable end and the interior divided along its north-south axis. It is regarded as the third oldest surviving structure in York and the earliest surviving stone building in the city. Local tradition associates it with Thomas Paine, and with the period in 1777-1778 when York served briefly as the seat of the national government. It is also among the few remaining buildings in York tied to that period.","period_of_significance":"1761","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Germanic and Provincial Georgian features","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Altered; newly roofed, with interiors gutted except for a few original baseboards and chair rails; basically only the stone shell remains.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:31.072238-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/72001182.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72001182/d590c9ecc5-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72001182/d590c9ecc5-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Paul Galbreath","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cookes_House.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Paul Galbreath</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cookes_House.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71998850","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cookes_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5167045"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/york-county/cookes-house-72001182/"}