{"nrhp_refnum":"79002333","name":"Wissahickon Inn","other_names":["Chestnut Hill Academy"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"500 W. Willow Grove Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":40.061891566500066,"lon":-75.20844440098122,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-12-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story U-shaped inn of locally quarried stone in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, built 1882-1884 and opened May 30, 1884. It was later converted into a school.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the inn is significant architecturally and for its role in the early community planning of Chestnut Hill. It is linked to Henry Howard Houston's development of the community alongside the railroad spur that opened ten days after the inn. It is also presented as a representative work of the Hewitt brothers, architects with a notable Philadelphia practice.","narrative":"Built of locally quarried stone between 1882 and 1884, the Wissahickon Inn in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, is a three-story U-shaped building with a hipped roof, gables, and a cone-roofed turret over the main entrance. It opened on May 30, 1884, and was built by Henry Howard Houston as part of his development of Chestnut Hill. Ten days after it opened, the Chestnut Hill spur of the Pennsylvania Railroad began service, and Houston intended the inn to serve travelers and residents of his planned community. The architects were George W. and William D. Hewitt, who also designed Druim Moir, Houston's mansion, and St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church. The building originally had 250 rooms, many later combined when it became a school. Its library contains leaded glass windows, a mural by Violet Oakley, and a fireplace attributed to Alexander Calder. The inn is regarded as an early landmark of modern Chestnut Hill and a representative example of the Hewitts' work.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"G. W. & W. D. Hewitt (architects); William C. Mackie (builder)","architectural_style":"Described as mid-Victorian, Queen Anne, and English Gothic","criteria":[],"status_note":"Converted into a school (the document does not state current use)","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:32.911199-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/79002333.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002333/b97527556d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002333/b97527556d-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Jack E. Boucher, HABS photographer","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wissahickon_Inn,_Philadelphia,_HABS_PA-1720-2.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jack E. Boucher, HABS photographer</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wissahickon_Inn,_Philadelphia,_HABS_PA-1720-2.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"72001151","name":"Fairmount Park","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/fairmount-park-72001151/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996990","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chestnut_Hill_Academy","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5093943"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/wissahickon-inn-79002333/"}