{"nrhp_refnum":"73001588","name":"Christman, Philip, House","other_names":["Uhlrich Beidler House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1 mi. SE of Bally at the Berks","address_restricted":false,"city":"Bally","county":"Berks County","state":"PA","lat":40.400005517500034,"lon":-75.57002586757083,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-03-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Agriculture","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 2½ story stone house in Bally, Berks County, Pennsylvania, built into a bank on its right front gable, with a multi-building farmstead around it. The house is typical of regional Germanic architecture and is dated to between 1730 and 1750.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the property is significant for its agricultural setting, as a fruit-growing section, shown in the vaulted cellar used for storing produce and cooled by a diverted stream. It also argues the group of buildings illustrates the development from a primitive farmstead to a family agricultural complex, and that the older house is architecturally notable for its vaulted cellar, beaded floorboards and fireplaces, along with a dated Fractur inscription.","narrative":"Built into a bank in Bally, Berks County, the Philip Christman House is a 2½ story stone house whose right front gable is set into the slope, the only access to its upper floor. Its construction is dated to between 1730 and 1750 and reflects regional Germanic building practice, in the Swiss Bank tradition. The lower floor is a vaulted cellar, cooled by a stream channelled through a stone trough, which the nomination associates with storing fruit and farm produce. The kitchen above has a large walk-in fireplace, and the upper formal room has beaded boarding and exposed beams. The property also holds a barn, a smoke house with a beehive oven, and a later stone house from the nineteenth century, showing the growth of a farmstead into a family agricultural complex. A Fractur inscription on the porch, reading Philip Christman and Madelena Christman 1810, is noted as evidence of the household's standing within southeastern Pennsylvania folklife.","period_of_significance":"1730-1750","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Germanic regional architecture, Swiss Bank tradition","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Original site; fair condition; unaltered per the form","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:30.204091-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/73001588.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001588/1de4f247a8-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001588/1de4f247a8-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Hshuvaeva","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Philip_Christman_House_Barn.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Hshuvaeva</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:Philip_Christman_House_Barn.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71994569","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Christman_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7183352"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/berks-county/christman-philip-house-73001588/"}