{"nrhp_refnum":"79002215","name":"Ayres, John, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"NW of Dauphin on PA 325","address_restricted":false,"city":"Dauphin","county":"Dauphin County","state":"PA","lat":40.39864055500007,"lon":-76.94760918804799,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-09-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 2½ story limestone house and tavern at the foot of Peters Mountain, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, with a kitchen wing and several stone outbuildings. The earliest section dates from the first decade of the 19th century.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is a fine example of an early tavern that grew and adapted to changing surroundings, serving travelers on the turnpike and stagecoach routes. It also associates the property with the late 19th-century development of a country estate after its purchase as a summer home.","narrative":"Built of local limestone at the foot of Peters Mountain in Dauphin County, the John Ayres House began as a tavern in the first decade of the 19th century, replacing earlier log and wooden structures. Its earliest section, with brick double chimneys, was joined by a two-bay eastern extension around 1815 to 1825. The house stood beside the turnpike crossing, where stagecoaches linked Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Lancaster, Reading and Sunbury. Travelers gathered there for rest and news, and the hotel was known as a centre of exchange for the surrounding countryside. John Ayres died in 1825. In 1885 David S. Coffrode of Philadelphia bought the property as a summer home and added the wing, the stable and the carriage house, so the site also reflects the late 19th-century country estate. The interior keeps Federal style woodwork around many doorways and windows, and a large cooking fireplace survives in the kitchen.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Federal style interior decoration","criteria":[],"status_note":"Altered; the 20th-century porches and sunporch were added, and the interior has been modernized in places.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:29.37207-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/79002215.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002215/6c793b78fa-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002215/6c793b78fa-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ayers_House_Dauphin_Co_PA.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ayers_House_Dauphin_Co_PA.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71995210","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ayres_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6219834"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/dauphin-county/ayres-john-house-79002215/"}