{"nrhp_refnum":"74001768","name":"Wheelen House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"NE of Downingtown on Fellowship Rd., Upper Uwchlan Township","address_restricted":false,"city":"Downingtown","county":"Chester County","state":"PA","lat":40.10600141700007,"lon":-75.67593424899997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-06-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The Wheelen House is a 2½-story fieldstone farmhouse in Downingtown, Chester County, Pennsylvania, with a gabled roof, end chimneys, and an attached one-and-a-half-story kitchen wing. It was built in the mid-18th century.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is significant as a local interpretation of Georgian architecture. It cites its fieldstone construction, its height of 2½ stories, its gabled roof with end chimneys, deep pent eaves, six-over-six sash windows with shutters, and the design of the front door as features characteristic of the Georgian style in Pennsylvania. The document notes that little record of the family's activities survives beyond the house itself.","narrative":"Built in the mid-eighteenth century in Downingtown, Chester County, the Wheelen House is a two-and-a-half-story fieldstone farmhouse with a gabled roof and end chimneys. The main block is four bays wide and two bays deep. A kitchen wing of random fieldstone extends north from the main section and is topped by a later dormer, and a shed-roofed summer kitchen with a brick cooking-stove chimney was added to its west wall in the nineteenth century. Walls combine coursed fieldstone on the south and east with random fieldstone on the north and west, set with massive corner quoins. Deep pent eaves separate the floors, and a heavy cornice runs around the building. The south front door has a rectangular transom and a simple architrave. The house was built by James Wheelen, a prosperous local farmer. It is regarded as a local expression of the Georgian style in Pennsylvania, valued for its fieldstone construction, proportions, and fenestration. Restoration took place in the late 1940s and early 1950s under architect Edgar F. Otto.","period_of_significance":"18th Century","architect_builder":"James Wheelen (builder, per the statement of significance); restoration by Edgar F. Otto (architect)","architectural_style":"Georgian","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Restored during the late 1940s and early 1950s; the summer kitchen was enclosed in the 1960s.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:29.039408-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/74001768.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001768/5d729d61ed-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001768/5d729d61ed-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wheelen_House,_Chester_County,_Pennsylvania_Apr_2011.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wheelen_House,_Chester_County,_Pennsylvania_Apr_2011.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"98000400","name":"West Vincent Highlands Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/west-vincent-highlands-historic-district-98000400/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71995270","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheelen_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17066442"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/chester-county/wheelen-house-74001768/"}