{"nrhp_refnum":"75000641","name":"Cunningham, Andrew, Farm","other_names":["\"Allendale\""],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2.5 mi. E of Virginia off Gridley Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Virginia","county":"Cass County","state":"IL","lat":39.951434336000034,"lon":-90.15846091399999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-05-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story adobe farmhouse known as \"Allendale,\" located about 2.5 miles east of Virginia, Cass County, Illinois, built in 1852 by Andrew Cunningham, with a brick addition added in 1868.","why_significant":"The house is significant as an unusual example of adobe construction in Illinois, made by Andrew Cunningham from local clay, ground tan bark and animal hair scraped from hides. It was documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey and is described as one of 12 \"Architectural Types of Construction in the United States\" recorded in the Library of Congress. It is also noted as being in a good state of repair and unaltered.","narrative":"Allendale is an adobe farmhouse about 2.5 miles east of Virginia in Cass County, Illinois. Andrew Cunningham, a Scottish-born tanner who arrived in America in 1834, built it in 1852. Working with materials at hand, he mixed local silt loam soil with water, ground tan bark and animal hair from hides, shaped the mixture into large blocks and dried them in the sun. The result was a two-story house with nine rooms and two large halls. A brick addition, made from the same clay, followed in 1868. The exterior was coated with cement plaster to protect the adobe from the Illinois climate, and overhanging eaves rest on iron braces Cunningham designed. Fireplaces provided heat and cooking, and some original window panes survive. The house was recorded by the Historic American Buildings Survey and is listed for its architecture and its unusual construction method on the prairie.","period_of_significance":"19th Century; specific date 1852","architect_builder":"Andrew Cunningham","architectural_style":"Federal elements","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in good condition, unaltered and on its original site; still used as a private residence and for agriculture.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.702485-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/78/8917/28891778/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/75000641.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000641/c7a525eb19-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000641/c7a525eb19-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Loren Van DeGraft","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Andrew_Cunningham_Farm_HABS1.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Loren Van DeGraft</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Andrew_Cunningham_Farm_HABS1.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28891778","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Cunningham_Farm","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4756733"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cass-county/cunningham-andrew-farm-75000641/"}