{"nrhp_refnum":"73001643","name":"Bryn Mawr","other_names":["Harriton"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"500 Harriton Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Bryn Mawr","county":"Montgomery County","state":"PA","lat":40.03494703600006,"lon":-75.31099984267254,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-07-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Literature","Science","Politics/Government","Religion","Agriculture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Harriton, a fieldstone farmhouse in Bryn Mawr, Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, begun as a house built for Rowland Ellis in 1704 and later altered in several periods. It was originally called Bryn Mawr and was renamed Harriton by Richard Harrison after 1719.","why_significant":"The house is significant for its early 18th-century origins and its association with Charles Thomson, Secretary of the Continental Congress, who lived there until his death in 1824. The nomination also argues that Thomson's translation of the Bible from the Septuagint, made in the Pennsylvania countryside, is a notable scholarly achievement. The surviving original fabric, including the second-floor woodwork, is cited as unusually well preserved.","narrative":"Harriton is a fieldstone house in Bryn Mawr, Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, built in 1704 by Rowland Ellis, one of the leaders of the Welsh settlement in the Welsh Tract. Originally T-shaped, it reflects an uncommon Elizabethan plan, and its walls are laid in random coursed fieldstone. Richard Harrison bought the property in 1719, renamed it Harriton, and ran a tobacco plantation there for more than thirty years. His daughter Hannah married Charles Thomson in 1774, and Thomson, Secretary of the Continental Congress, lived at Harriton from 1789 until his death in 1824. He attested the Declaration of Independence as Secretary, co-designed the Seal of the United States, and produced a translation of the Bible from the Septuagint, which is regarded as the first such translation into English made in North America. The second-floor woodwork retains early 18th-century features, and the house is listed for its architecture and its association with Thomson.","period_of_significance":"1704-1824","architect_builder":"Rowland Ellis (original builder of the 1704 house, as the statement of significance implies); Ralph L. Colton (architect of the 1926 alterations)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["B","C"],"status_note":"Altered in 1926 and undergoing restoration by The Harriton Association, which is removing later work added by Colton; the property is owned by Lower Merion Township.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:29.787538-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/73001643.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001643/0ceb1083e0-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001643/0ceb1083e0-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"John Thomson Faris","credit_html":"John Thomson Faris, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harriton_House_1919.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71994815","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriton_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5666321"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/montgomery-county/bryn-mawr-73001643/"}