{"nrhp_refnum":"76001663","name":"Harper, Frances Ellen Watkins, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1006 Bainbridge St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":39.94188027350006,"lon":-75.15941588691409,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-12-08","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1976-12-08","areas_of_significance":["Black","Literature","Social History"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story corner rowhouse with masonry exterior at the northeast corner of Bainbridge and South Adler Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The construction date is not known because building permits were not required until 1890.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is significant as the Philadelphia home of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, who lived there from 1870 until her death in 1911. Harper is presented as a reformer and writer active in the abolitionist, women's suffrage, temperance and civil rights movements, and as the first Afro-American woman to publish a novel.","narrative":"Bainbridge and South Adler Streets form the corner where this three-story masonry rowhouse stands in Philadelphia. Its construction date is unknown, since building permits were not required until 1890, but it was the home of writer and reformer Frances Ellen Watkins Harper from 1870 until her death in 1911. Extensive alterations have removed any clear architectural style. The first floor was converted from a storefront to a residential facade, and the west side was covered in stucco. Harper was born in Baltimore in 1825 and became a lecturer for the abolitionist cause in the 1850s. Her later work covered women's suffrage, temperance and the welfare of freedpeople in the South. She published poetry, essays and the novel Iola Leroy, which is recognized as the first novel by an Afro-American woman. The house is significant chiefly for its association with her life and work.","period_of_significance":"1870-1911","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"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 17:11:30.684056-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/76001663_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76001663/d624b95237-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76001663/d624b95237-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Dthomsen8","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phila_Harper_house.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Dthomsen8</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phila_Harper_house.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71994355","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Ellen_Watkins_Harper_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5478627"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/harper-frances-ellen-watkins-house-76001663/"}