{"nrhp_refnum":"74001397","name":"House, Col. Erastus, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"OH 46 and Richmond-Footville Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Rays Corner","county":"Ashtabula County","state":"OH","lat":41.68349515400007,"lon":-80.78089307599998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-07-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A large two-story frame house of the central-chimney type at Route 46 and Richmond-Footville Road in Rays Corner, Lenox Township, Ashtabula County, Ohio, built by Colonel Erastus N. House and completed before 1825.","why_significant":"The house is an unusually well-preserved example of the Connecticut and Massachusetts central-chimney plan, which is far less common in Ohio than the later central-hall plan. It shows a persistent older New England building tradition. Its history is also well documented through the memoirs of Abigail House, the builder's second wife.","narrative":"This large two-story frame house at Rays Corner in Ashtabula County follows the central-chimney plan brought from Connecticut and Massachusetts. Its five-bay facade has a center entrance with sidelights, and most windows keep their twelve-over-twelve double-hung sash. Inside, the stairs rise in front of the chimney stack, fireplaces open from the surrounding rooms, and a large kitchen with a great hearth and bake oven sits behind the chimney. The original mantelpieces and woodwork survive, and stencilling has been found on several first-floor walls. A kitchen wing was added around 1900. Colonel Erastus N. House, a dairy farmer, local postmaster and historian, came to Lenox Township from Sandisfield, Massachusetts, in 1809. He began the house after marrying Abigail Clark Fish in 1819, and it was finished before 1825. The plan is far less common in Ohio than the later central-hall type, and it reflects builders from a conservative New England locality. A restoration began in 1968.","period_of_significance":"19th Century (specific date 1825?)","architect_builder":"Colonel Erastus N. House","architectural_style":"Central-chimney type (Connecticut and Massachusetts tradition)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition marked excellent and altered, on its original site, used as a private residence; a restoration by the owner has been under way since 1968.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:09.995456-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/74001397.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001397/7a3bced71e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001397/7a3bced71e-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Erastus_House_House.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Erastus_House_House.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71986681","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q137599249"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/ashtabula-county/house-col-erastus-house-74001397/"}