{"nrhp_refnum":"77001140","name":"Hill House","other_names":["Johnston, Col. James, House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Tennis St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boalsburg","county":"Centre County","state":"PA","lat":40.77291302700007,"lon":-77.79496819199994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1977-03-28","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 2½-story stone residence with a gable roof and a stone-and-frame kitchen ell, set apart from the town of Boalsburg in Centre County, Pennsylvania. The house is traditionally dated to about 1830, though the document says the source of that dating is uncertain.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is tied to Colonel James Johnston, Jr., a local merchant and landowner who helped develop Boalsburg and built the Boalsburg Tavern. It also cites the house's architectural quality, particularly its fanlight and newel treatment, which it describes as representing the best of early local carpentry in the county.","narrative":"Built about 1830 in Boalsburg, Centre County, the Hill House is a five-bay, two-and-a-half-story stone residence with a gable roof and a rear kitchen ell. It was the principal farm and residence of Colonel James Johnston, Jr. (1771 or 1772 to 1864), a local merchant and landowner who was one of the leading figures in the growth of Boalsburg and who had the Boalsburg Tavern built in 1819. The house is listed for its association with Johnston and for its architectural quality. Its most notable feature is a wide front doorway with an unusual fanlight of rectilinear and elliptical forms. The interior retains original yellow pine floors, molded woodwork, a classically inspired parlor fireplace, and a dogleg staircase with refined colonnette balusters. The stone walls carry a horsehair plaster finish, and much of the original window glass survives, including the parlor and staircase detailing. The house is set apart from the town and landscaped.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"The document states the house is in excellent state of preservation, with its interior finish and nearly all original hardware and window glass remaining.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:28.954936-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/77001140.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77001140/f19a555b40-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77001140/f19a555b40-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Ruhrfisch (talk)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hill_House_(Boalsburg,_Pennsylvania).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ruhrfisch (talk)</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hill_House_(Boalsburg,_Pennsylvania).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71994712","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_House_(Boalsburg,_Pennsylvania)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15224042"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/centre-county/hill-house-77001140/"}