{"nrhp_refnum":"73000701","name":"Little Brick House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"621 St. Clair St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Vandalia","county":"Fayette County","state":"IL","lat":38.96090245400006,"lon":-89.09895782499996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-06-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A six-room brick dwelling in the Italianate (Tuscan Villa) style at 621 St. Clair in Vandalia, Fayette County, Illinois, now used as a museum, with original outbuildings and gardens on about half an acre.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is tied to literary, cultural and social history and represents the work of a master craftsman and an architectural type specimen. Early owners included artist James William Berry and storekeeper Charles Prentice, and historian Joseph C. Burtschi lived there. It also houses a library devoted to writer James Hall.","narrative":"Little Brick House is a six-room dwelling at 621 St. Clair in Vandalia, Illinois, built in a very simple form of the Italianate, or Tuscan Villa, style. A two-story square brick block at the front is joined by two one-story brick rooms and a frame storeroom at the back. Original wooden shutters made with pegs, small iron window locks with porcelain knobs, old door hardware, brick pathways, a summer kitchen and a woodshed survive. The grounds include native trees, gardens, a well and a cistern. The nomination cites the house as the work of a master craftsman and as an architectural type specimen. Artist James William Berry and early storekeeper Charles Prentice owned the property, and Joseph C. Burtschi, a banker and historian who edited the Documentary History of Vandalia, lived there. The house now serves as a museum holding the James Hall Library, with manuscripts, letters and books by and about the early western writer.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Italianate / Tuscan Villa","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in excellent condition, slightly altered, on its original site, occupied and used as a museum.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.227691-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/33/8928/28892833/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/73000701.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000701/9a144ae126-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000701/9a144ae126-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"JERRYE AND ROY KLOTZ MD","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LITTLE_BRICK_HOUSE,_VANDALIA,_FAYETTE_COUNTY,_IL.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">JERRYE AND ROY KLOTZ MD</a>, <a href=\"https://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:LITTLE_BRICK_HOUSE,_VANDALIA,_FAYETTE_COUNTY,_IL.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892833","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Brick_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6649285"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/fayette-county/little-brick-house-73000701/"}