{"nrhp_refnum":"76000714","name":"Durant House","other_names":["Durant-Peterson House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"NW of St. Charles off Dean St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"St. Charles","county":"Kane County","state":"IL","lat":41.92724899500007,"lon":-88.34735966699998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-06-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Exploration/Settlement"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick farmhouse with later frame rear additions, located in the Le Roy Oakes Forest Preserve near St. Charles, Kane County, Illinois. Bryant Durant built the brick portion around 1843, and Godfrey Peterson added rear rooms around 1881.","why_significant":"The house is presented as a typical, modest home from the late frontier period of Illinois, before the area industrialized. It shows two periods, the 1840s and the 1880s. The nomination says it is the only house museum in the region representing this period and social position, apart from a few reproduction log cabins.","narrative":"Built around 1843 by bricklayer Bryant Durant, this two-story brick farmhouse sits in the Le Roy Oakes Forest Preserve near St. Charles, Illinois. Durant, a Massachusetts-born tradesman, used locally made brick and lumber cut from his own land, and the walnut woodwork came from the property. Walls were laid in an interwoven pattern for strength and insulating airflow. In 1881 he sold the farm to Godfrey Peterson, who added rear wooden rooms, so the house reflects both the 1840s and the 1880s. The Kane County Forest Preserve District acquired the farm after the Sheldon family's thirty years of ownership, and restoration volunteers furnished and reopened it as a museum. It is valued as an example of a very ordinary, modest frontier home rather than a grand mansion, and it is described as the only house museum in its region representing that period and social position.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Bryant Durant","architectural_style":"Vernacular","criteria":[],"status_note":"Restored and operated as a house museum by Kane County Restorations, Inc. for the Forest Preserve District; restoration about 85% complete at the time of nomination; open free on Sundays in season.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:34.569199-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/2/8931/28893102/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/76000714.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000714/6a1cd706e8-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000714/6a1cd706e8-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Durant_House.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Durant_House.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28893102","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durant_House_(St._Charles,_Illinois)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5316246"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/kane-county/durant-house-76000714/"}