{"nrhp_refnum":"74001772","name":"Meredith, Simon, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"0.5 mi. W of Pughtown on Pughtown Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Pughtown","county":"Chester County","state":"PA","lat":40.17005033800007,"lon":-75.67703152299998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-12-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A early eighteenth-century stone house with a later Federal-style stucco addition in Pughtown, Coventry Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, on original site. The original west wing was built by Simon Meredith after about 1708.","why_significant":"The house is described as one of the oldest structures in northern Chester County. The nomination ties it to Simon Meredith, an early settler and member of the Provincial Assembly, and to his son Hugh's partnership with Benjamin Franklin in a Philadelphia printing shop. The Federal addition adds architectural interest for the area.","narrative":"Built by Simon Meredith in the early eighteenth century, this stone house in Coventry Township is among the oldest surviving structures in northern Chester County. Its original west wing is random fieldstone, later covered with stucco, and it was joined on the east by a larger Federal-period addition of two and a half stories with a gable roof and an entrance placed in the gable end, an unusual choice for the area. Meredith, born about 1663, came from Radnorshire, Wales, around 1708 and acquired 300 acres along French Creek. He was taxed in 1720 and elected to the Provincial Assembly in 1727. His son Hugh worked with Benjamin Franklin at a Philadelphia printing house and later formed a partnership with Franklin, which Simon financed with 100 pounds. The house is significant for its early construction date, its architecture, and its connection to these early Pennsylvania settlers.","period_of_significance":"18th Century","architect_builder":"Simon Meredith (builder)","architectural_style":"Federal","criteria":["C"],"status_note":null,"vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:30.178424-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/74001772.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001772/55292978c5-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001772/55292978c5-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Simon_Meredith_House.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:Simon_Meredith_House.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71997884","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Meredith_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7519341"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/chester-county/meredith-simon-house-74001772/"}