{"nrhp_refnum":"76001620","name":"Thomas, William, House","other_names":["Wren's Nest"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"266 N. Thomas St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Bellefonte","county":"Centre County","state":"PA","lat":40.91509128200005,"lon":-77.78552055399996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-11-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The Thomas Homestead is a house in Bellefonte, Centre County, Pennsylvania, made of two sections: a stone house dating to about 1785 and a two-story Georgian-style house built in 1834. The nomination describes it as a former mill house and home of ironmaster William Ashbridge Thomas.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is significant for its association with William Ashbridge Thomas, an iron master who enlarged it in 1834 and used it as a meeting place for men planning regional industrial and economic development. It also argues the house illustrates two distinct periods of residential building, from the early settlement stone house to the more stylish Georgian main section.","narrative":"Built in stages on Spring Creek near Bellefonte, the property combines a stone house begun by settler and miller William Lamb around 1785 with a two-story Georgian house added by ironmaster William Ashbridge Thomas in 1834. The older section, laid up in random fieldstone, has a large fireplace and reflects the building methods of early settlers. Thomas squared off the older floor plan and built the new main section with large parlors, a central hall and a symmetrical plan. Thomas bought the property in 1834 from the heirs of James Smith, and it was tied to the mills that supported the Lamb and Smith families. Thomas managed the iron firm he had leased with the Valentine brothers, and he hosted meetings of men planning industrial growth in the region, including railroad figure Wistar Morris. Thomas died in 1866. The house is regarded as a record of how residential life in the county changed over fifty years.","period_of_significance":"1785-1866","architect_builder":"William Lamb (1785); William Thomas (1834)","architectural_style":"Georgian elements","criteria":[],"status_note":"The function note in the form records the house as formerly a residence and now vacant; the fireplace was blocked with cinder block and the property is described as in need of structural reinforcing in the older section.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:29.033164-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/76001620.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76001620/4a1df342e9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76001620/4a1df342e9-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Pubdog (talk)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Thomas_House_Aug_10.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Pubdog (talk)</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Thomas_House_Aug_10.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71994612","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Thomas_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8019321"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/centre-county/thomas-william-house-76001620/"}