{"nrhp_refnum":"79003028","name":"Miller, Hannah, House","other_names":["William Joseph House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"N of Mossy Creek off VA 747","address_restricted":false,"city":"Mossy Creek","county":"Augusta County","state":"VA","lat":38.35941133700004,"lon":-79.02970364099997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-05-24","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story rubble stone house on a basement, built ca. 1814 on the northwest side of Route 747 near Mossy Creek, Augusta County, Virginia. It is a one-cell Continental bank house with an early 20th-century frame wing.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it the only known Virginia example of a Continental bank house, a Swiss-devised form brought to America by German-descended settlers to suit hilly sites. It was built to house Hannah Miller, widow of ironmaster Henry Miller, and is an early example of a Stockli, a small house for retired parents. Both the bank-house form and the Stockli tradition are common in Pennsylvania but rare in Virginia.","narrative":"Set on a hillside north of Mossy Creek in Augusta County, this small rubble stone house is a Continental bank house, a form devised in Switzerland and brought to America by German-descended settlers to make use of sloping ground. It rises two stories above a basement that opens at grade, with a single room on each floor, an exterior gable-end chimney, 6/6 sash windows and a closed corner stair. It was built around 1814 for Hannah Miller, widow of Henry Miller, founder of the Mossy Creek Iron Furnace. His will required that she be given a comfortable house when the family property was sold. The house faces his mansion across Mossy Creek Glade. It is the only known Virginia example of its type and an early Stockli, a small house for retired parents, a tradition more common in Pennsylvania. An early 20th-century frame wing was added to the north side.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1814","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Continental bank house (one-cell bank house)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as rental property, presently unoccupied; condition marked excellent and unaltered.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:58.036321-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/91/6796/41679691/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/79003028.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79003028/15013a34f7-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79003028/15013a34f7-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hannah_Miller_House.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hannah_Miller_House.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41679691","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Miller_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14712459"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/augusta-county/miller-hannah-house-79003028/"}