{"nrhp_refnum":"78002181","name":"Mountain House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Highland Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chillicothe","county":"Ross County","state":"OH","lat":39.33204533500003,"lon":-82.99116978799998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-12-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Science","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Mountain House is a two-story brick building on a stone foundation on Highland Avenue in Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio, built about 1852 by Oscar Janssen.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as an excellent and early example of Gothic Revival style combined with Romanesque and Gothic detail, built as a representation of a castle on the Rhine. It is also tied to Dard Hunter, a noted authority on papermaking, who made it the home of the Mountain House Press from 1919.","narrative":"Mountain House is a two-story brick residence on a stone foundation overlooking Chillicothe and the Scioto River Valley. German immigrant Oscar Janssen built it in 1852 as a representation of a castle on the Rhine, and it served first as a beer garden and winery, with vineyards terraced down the hillside. Two square towers flank the front facade, and windows have casements with Gothic mullions and label molds. The cellar was built as a wine cellar. After a grape blight around 1875 ended the vineyards, the building became a girls' school and later a private home. In 1919 Dard Hunter, an authority on handmade paper and its history, bought it and set up the Mountain House Press there. He carved his own type, made his own paper, and published limited-edition books on papermaking. He also built interior woodwork, mantels and stained glass. The house remains largely unaltered and is recognized for its architecture and its link to Hunter's work.","period_of_significance":"1852","architect_builder":"Oscar Janssen","architectural_style":"Gothic Revival with Romanesque and Gothic detail","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as virtually unaltered and original except for some interior additions; occupied as a private residence.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:12.305295-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/78002181.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002181/1e004a4436-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002181/1e004a4436-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.0","author":"dok1","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mountain_House_in_late_autumn.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">dok1</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mountain_House_in_late_autumn.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71991209","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_House_(Chillicothe,_Ohio)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14716739"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/ross-county/mountain-house-78002181/"}