{"nrhp_refnum":"79000879","name":"Graham-Ginestra House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1115 S. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Rockford","county":"Winnebago County","state":"IL","lat":42.261579331000064,"lon":-89.10069365599998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-06-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story limestone house at 1115 S. Main Street in Rockford, Winnebago County, Illinois, built in 1857 for Freeman Graham, Sr., with a shed, stable, carriage house and smoke house on the grounds.","why_significant":"The house was the home of Freeman Graham, Sr., a prominent businessman who built Illinois's first sour mash distillery and co-owned the Rockford Cotton Mills. It later reflected the growth of South Rockford's Italian immigrant community under the Ginestra family. Only two families lived in it, and it is described as one of the best-preserved and most ornate pre-Civil War residences in the city.","narrative":"Built in 1857 on South Main Street in Rockford, this two-story limestone house has walls of one-foot Galena dolomite blocks cut on the site and a restored slate gable roof. Its style is transitional between Greek Revival and Italianate, with bracketed eaves and two bracketed entrance canopies. Inside are a free-standing stairway of mahogany and black walnut, marble fireplaces, parquet floors and hand-painted ceilings. A shed, stable, carriage house and limestone smoke house remain on the grounds. The first owner, Freeman Graham, Sr., built the first sour mash distillery in Illinois and part-owned the Rockford Cotton Mills. After his death in 1896 the house passed to his daughter Julia and her husband Henry S. Warner, who sold it in 1927 to Sicilian immigrant Leo Ginestra. The house was listed for its link to Graham and for reflecting more than 120 years of South Rockford's history, including its Italian immigrant community. Only two families ever lived there.","period_of_significance":"1857-1927","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Transitional between Greek Revival and Italianate","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described in the form as a private residence, occupied, in good condition and altered. A later letter says it was being kept as a home museum and was for sale.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.963111-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/97/8943/28894397/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/79000879.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000879/e12d3fceb5-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000879/e12d3fceb5-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.5","author":"IvoShandor","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rockford_Il_Graham-Ginestra_House4.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">IvoShandor</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.5</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rockford_Il_Graham-Ginestra_House4.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28894397","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham%E2%80%93Ginestra_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16839868"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/winnebago-county/graham-ginestra-house-79000879/"}