{"nrhp_refnum":"74001483","name":"Sharp, Morris, House","other_names":["Fayette County Historical Society Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"517 Columbus St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Washington Court House","county":"Fayette County","state":"OH","lat":39.53919402300005,"lon":-83.43492968999999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-01-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick Italian Villa style house with a four-story tower, built in 1875 at 517 Columbus Street in Washington Court House, Fayette County, Ohio, with a brick carriage house to the southeast.","why_significant":"The nomination cites the house as an architectural example of the Italian Villa style, with its pointed-arch windows, slate roofs and tall tower. It is also tied to Morris Sharp, a local banker and temperance advocate who was nominated for governor by the Prohibition Party.","narrative":"Built in 1875 in Washington Court House, Ohio, this brick house is designed in an Italian Villa style. It has two wings joined at right angles, with a square four-story tower rising about thirty feet above the roofline in the corner between them. Pointed-arch windows, bay windows, bracketed eaves, ornamental iron cresting and a patterned roof of multicolored slate give the exterior its character. Inside, a center hall plan places the stairway near the west front door and leads to the top of the tower. A brick carriage house survives southeast of the house. The home was built for Morris Sharp, a banker who headed the Commercial Bank and was a well-known supporter of temperance. He was nominated for governor by the Prohibition Party and drew more votes than any earlier candidate of that party. The Fayette County Historical Society acquired the property in 1955 and has operated it as a museum since then.","period_of_significance":"19th Century (built 1875)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Italian Villa","criteria":[],"status_note":"Acquired by the Fayette County Historical Society in 1955 and used as a museum since then; condition listed as good and altered.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:09.918994-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/74001483.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001483/27c1fe7a1f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001483/27c1fe7a1f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Aesopposea","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MorrisSharp.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Aesopposea</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:MorrisSharp.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71988267","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Sharp_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14716729"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/fayette-county/sharp-morris-house-74001483/"}