{"nrhp_refnum":"78001862","name":"Mud House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1000 Whalen Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Penfield","county":"Monroe County","state":"NY","lat":43.14209727300005,"lon":-77.45962075399996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-10-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-and-a-half-story, 24 by 38 foot rectangular rammed-earth farmhouse with a gable roof at 1000 Whalen Road, Penfield, Monroe County, New York, built 1835-36 by William Gors.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is a rare surviving example of rammed-earth (cob-wall) construction, once fairly common in Monroe County. It also typifies the simple rural beginnings of Penfield, now a suburb. The site may hold archaeological resources from the 1812 Gors homestead.","narrative":"Built in 1835-36 as a modest farmhouse, this one-and-a-half-story building on Whalen Road in Penfield is made of clay mixed with straw and rammed into forms above a fieldstone foundation. William Gors, whose family came from Connecticut in 1812, built it after growing up in a log cabin on the property. According to family records, oxen trampled the clay and straw together, and the walls were poured in courses, with floor joists embedded in them. The walls are about 18 inches thick at the base. The house has no decorative details and a central chimney serving three working fireplaces. Later owners included a nursery company that renovated it in 1940-41 and used it as offices. A subdivision now surrounds it. It was listed as a rare survivor of earthen construction and a reminder of Penfield's rural beginnings, though severe exterior deterioration threatens it.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"William Gors","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Used as a rental residence; exterior badly deteriorated, with the protective coating mostly worn away and shrubbery nearly hiding the house.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:39.70972-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/78001862.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78001862/96e85c9b5f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78001862/96e85c9b5f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"DanielPenfield","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MudHousePenfieldNewYork.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">DanielPenfield</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MudHousePenfieldNewYork.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75318888","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mud_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14707036"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/monroe-county/mud-house-78001862/"}