{"nrhp_refnum":"76001610","name":"Roebling, John, House","other_names":["John Roebling Shop"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Rebecca and Main Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Saxonburg","county":"Butler County","state":"PA","lat":40.750838970000075,"lon":-79.81049339699996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-11-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Engineering","Transportation","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story frame and brick house with a detached one-story frame shop in Saxonburg, Butler County, Pennsylvania, built about 1832 to 1835 and associated with John Augustus Roebling. The shop was built in 1841 and moved 150 feet in 1974 but remains on its original lot.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that the house and shop gain their significance from Roebling's development of stranded steel cable at his shop in Saxonburg in 1841. The buildings are not described as architecturally outstanding, but the cable process had far-reaching effects on transportation in the United States and abroad.","narrative":"Saxonburg, in Butler County, Pennsylvania, is the setting for a house built between about 1832 and 1835 and a one-story frame shop of 1841, both associated with John Augustus Roebling. Roebling, a civil engineer born in Germany in 1806, settled here after emigrating with a group of family members. While working on state canal projects, he developed a method of stranding wires into a stronger, thinner cable to replace hemp cable used on canals and railroads. He perfected the process at his Saxonburg shop in 1841. The house is a two-story structure with a central hall, later altered with aluminum siding and a rear addition of about 1904. The shop was moved 150 feet in 1974 because of traffic and drainage problems but remains on its original lot. The buildings are not regarded as architecturally outstanding; their importance rests on the stranded cable developed within them, which later shaped suspension bridges and transportation systems.","period_of_significance":"c. 1835","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A"],"status_note":"The shop was moved 150 feet in 1974 but remains on its original lot; a 1974 shop note is recorded.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:30.626507-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/76001610.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76001610/19b16bc042-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76001610/19b16bc042-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roebling_Shop_with_bridge.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roebling_Shop_with_bridge.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"03000035","name":"Saxonburg Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/saxonburg-historic-district-03000035/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71998045","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Roebling_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6255383"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/butler-county/roebling-john-house-76001610/"}