{"nrhp_refnum":"80004526","name":"Gregg, William L., House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"115 S. Linden","address_restricted":false,"city":"Westmont","county":"DuPage County","state":"IL","lat":41.792851076000034,"lon":-87.97516726099997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-10-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Exploration/Settlement"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-and-a-half story brick house with a mansard roof at 115 South Linden St., Westmont, DuPage County, Illinois, built by brick manufacturer William L. Gregg in the 1870s and moved a short distance in 1977.","why_significant":"It is described as the oldest house in Westmont and the one-time home of the village's founder, brick manufacturer William L. Gregg. The nomination argues that brickmakers' homes are often the only surviving reminder of vanished brickyards and served as advertisements for the local product. Gregg's yard produced machine-made, stiff-mud \"Excelsior\" bricks, a superior product for 1870s Illinois.","narrative":"This brick house in Westmont, Illinois, is a rectangular, one-and-a-half story dwelling with a steep mansard roof, triangular-headed dormers, a brick water table and segmental arch window heads. It was built by William L. Gregg, who came to the Chicago area in 1872 to find a brickyard site for a Philadelphia company. His yard near the railroad tracks soon employed 120 workers and produced more than 70,000 machine-made \"Excelsior\" bricks a day, helping to supply rebuilding after the Chicago Fire. The settlement that grew nearby, Gregg's Station, later became Westmont. Gregg died in 1887 and the yard closed three years later. His house, known as the \"Mansion on the Hill,\" later served as a speakeasy, a community center and a church rectory. It is considered the village's oldest house, and a geographer quoted in the nomination notes that brickmakers' homes often remain the only visible trace of lost brick industries. In 1977 the park district moved it about half a block to prevent demolition.","period_of_significance":"1872-1887","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Moved in 1977 to Memorial Park and purchased by the Westmont Park District; to be restored for use as a historical society museum. The interior and exterior have been altered.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.127041-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/1/8928/28892801/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/80004526.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004526/bb5f15994f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004526/bb5f15994f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"User:Teemu08 Uploaded by Teemu08 at en.wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gregg_Museum.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Teemu08 Uploaded by Teemu08 at en.wikipedia</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gregg_Museum.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892801","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_L._Gregg_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8014168"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/dupage-county/gregg-william-l-house-80004526/"}