{"nrhp_refnum":"78002035","name":"Knowlton, Dr. William A., House","other_names":["Bourn,Dorothy A.,House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"8937 Highland Dr.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Brecksville","county":"Cuyahoga County","state":"OH","lat":41.31978271400004,"lon":-81.62998154899998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-12-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story Italianate house at 8937 Highland Drive in Brecksville, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, built between 1879 and 1880 for physician Dr. William A. Knowlton.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it Brecksville's most outstanding Italianate dwelling, noted for its bracketed and paneled cornice, keystoned window surrounds, ornate porches and an unusual local treatment of posts with brackets in place of impost blocks. It has remained virtually intact, unlike many other surviving nineteenth century Brecksville houses. It is also associated with Dr. Knowlton and Dr. Ernest Bourn, two of the town's earliest and most popular physicians.","narrative":"Built between 1879 and 1880 on Highland Drive in Brecksville, Ohio, this two-story Italianate house was constructed for Dr. William A. Knowlton, a prominent local physician. A cubical main block and a bay-windowed side wing sit on a dressed ashlar foundation under a hip roof, with shiplap siding, a bracketed and paneled cornice, and segmentally arched windows with wooden keystones. Porches have chamfered posts that use shaped brackets instead of impost blocks, an unusual local detail. Knowlton later moved to Cleveland, and the house passed to his protege, Dr. Ernest Bourn. Besides serving as a doctor's office, it housed the town's public library, with Mrs. Bourn as librarian. The nomination describes it as Brecksville's most outstanding Italianate dwelling and notes that it has stayed virtually intact, with a largely unaltered interior of dark oak trim. The community also built a scale model of the house, displayed at the local library.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Italianate","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as relatively unaltered, in use as a private residence and occupied; a period restoration was planned under new owners in 1978.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:12.611904-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/78002035.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002035/34be7ffd26-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002035/34be7ffd26-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dr._William_A._Knowlton_House.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dr._William_A._Knowlton_House.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71987788","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q137641916"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/cuyahoga-county/knowlton-dr-william-a-house-78002035/"}