{"nrhp_refnum":"74001585","name":"Hawthorn Hill","other_names":["Wright, Orville, Home"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Harman and Park Aves.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Oakwood","county":"Montgomery County","state":"OH","lat":39.72236136400005,"lon":-84.17615968799998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-10-18","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1991-07-17","areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Engineering","Invention","Transportation"],"significance_levels":["national","state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Hawthorn Hill is a two and one-half story brick house on a hilltop estate at Harman Avenue and Park Avenue in Oakwood, Ohio. It was completed in 1914 and designed by the Dayton firm of Schenk and Williams.","why_significant":"The nomination cites the house as a typical example of the large estates of an earlier era of gracious living. More importantly, it is associated with Orville Wright, who lived there from 1914 until his death in 1948. While living there he built a wind tunnel and developed the split wing flap for slowing airplanes during landing.","narrative":"Hawthorn Hill is a large white brick house of two and one-half stories, completed in 1914 on a hilltop estate in Oakwood, Ohio. Dayton architects Schenk and Williams combined Neo-Classical Revival, Georgian and English Renaissance elements. The north and south facades have porticoes with two-story Ionic columns, and the house has a hipped roof with a deck. Inside are eight rooms on the first floor, including a library that remains much as Orville Wright used it, and seven bedrooms upstairs. Orville and Wilbur Wright bought the land in February 1912, but Wilbur died that May before construction began. Orville lived in the house from 1914 until his death in 1948. Later, a corporate owner bought it to preserve it and used it as a guest house for international visitors. The property is valued as an example of a grand estate and for its link to Orville Wright, who built a wind tunnel and developed the split wing flap there.","period_of_significance":"20th Century (specific date 1914)","architect_builder":"Schenk and Williams (Dayton architectural firm)","architectural_style":"Combination of Neo-Classical Revival, Georgian and English Renaissance elements","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition excellent and unaltered on its original site; used as a guest house for international visitors by its corporate owner.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:10.095425-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/74001585.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001585/0ffc93fcac-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001585/0ffc93fcac-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Glass negatives from the Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hawthorn_Hill_(Oakwood,_Ohio).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Glass negatives from the Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hawthorn_Hill_(Oakwood,_Ohio).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71990547","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorn_Hill","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5685496"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/montgomery-county/hawthorn-hill-74001585/"}