{"nrhp_refnum":"73001661","name":"Clarkson-Watson House","other_names":["Bank of Germantown"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"5275-5277 Germantown Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":40.03226956200007,"lon":-75.16862867499998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-04-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-a-half-story brick house with a full cellar at 5275-5277 Germantown Avenue in Germantown, Philadelphia, built about 1740-1750. It was later adapted for use as the Bank of Germantown.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is significant for its association with Matthew Clarkson, a former Philadelphia mayor who lived there, and with visits by federal officials during the 1793 yellow fever epidemic. It also cites its later connection to John Fanning Watson, Philadelphia's first historian, who worked as cashier of the bank and wrote Annals of Philadelphia there. Its architectural changes across the 18th and 19th centuries are also documented.","narrative":"Built about 1740-1750 on Germantown Avenue in Philadelphia, this two-and-a-half-story house with a full cellar was first a private home. Its original front section measures 38 feet wide and 32 feet deep, with a brick rear addition and a wood shed added later. Between 1792 and 1796 it was the residence of Matthew Clarkson, a former Philadelphia mayor. During the 1793 yellow fever epidemic, when federal offices were located in Germantown, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and Attorney General Edmund Randolph visited the house. In the nineteenth century the building was adapted as the Bank of Germantown, where John Fanning Watson, Philadelphia's first historian, worked as cashier from 1814 to 1847. There he wrote his 800-page Annals of Philadelphia, published in 1830, which is regarded as a valuable regional reference. Original flooring, hardware, a stair railing and an entrance hall arch survive in the older part.","period_of_significance":"c. 1740-1750","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by the Germantown Historical Society, which has renovated it to its 1770s appearance according to the document.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:30.326377-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/73001661.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001661/b9bbdd89ed-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001661/b9bbdd89ed-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clarkson_Watson_House.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clarkson_Watson_House.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"66000678","name":"Colonial Germantown Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/colonial-germantown-historic-district-66000678/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71997154","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarkson-Watson_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5127631"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/clarkson-watson-house-73001661/"}