{"nrhp_refnum":"80002954","name":"Bookwalter, Francis, House","other_names":["Hawkins House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"611 S. Fountain Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Springfield","county":"Clark County","state":"OH","lat":39.91725111000005,"lon":-83.81093748399996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-01-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture","Invention"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story frame Second Empire (mansard) house with a center tower, built in 1875-76 at 611 S. Fountain Ave., Springfield, Clark County, Ohio, with a brick mansard carriage house at the rear of the lot.","why_significant":"The nomination cites two levels of significance. The house was built for Frank Bookwalter, who managed the Leffel water turbine firm and devised an electrically linked clock that set standard time for Springfield factories. It is also described as an exuberant, nearly caricature-like example of the mansard style, rare in Springfield.","narrative":"Built in 1875-76 on South Fountain Avenue in Springfield, this three-story frame house rises to a fourth-story center tower under a steep mansard roof of multicolored slate topped with cast-iron cresting. Scroll-sawn trim, window hoods, bays and bracketed eaves give it an elaborate profile, and a large brick carriage house stands at the rear of the lot. The house was built for Frank Bookwalter, born in Indiana in 1837, who became general manager of the Leffel water wheel firm and was responsible for improvements to its turbine until 1900. He also built a private observatory, wrote on watches, and designed a clock that supplied standard time to Springfield factories. The nomination describes the house as the city's most unusual, a design close to one published by S. B. Reed and a rare surviving example of a style that has largely vanished. Later porch changes, apartment conversion and long neglect have affected it, and restoration began in 1978.","period_of_significance":"1875-76","architect_builder":"unknown","architectural_style":"Mansardic or Second Empire","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and used for apartments; undergoing restoration after being sold in 1978. The front porch and interior are described as in poor condition after decades of neglect.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:12.364404-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/80002954.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80002954/cb6d23a01c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80002954/cb6d23a01c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Christopher L. Riley","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Francis_Bookwalter_House_%E2%80%94_Springfield,_Ohio.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Christopher L. Riley</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Francis_Bookwalter_House_%E2%80%94_Springfield,_Ohio.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71987088","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q137607286"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/clark-county/bookwalter-francis-house-80002954/"}