{"nrhp_refnum":"82003814","name":"Shedwick, John, Development Houses","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"3433-3439 Lancaster Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":39.95756124600007,"lon":-75.17968525899994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-03-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A grouping of four Second Empire style row houses at 3433-3439 Lancaster Avenue in the Powelton neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, built about 1875 of brick with green serpentine limestone facades.","why_significant":"The houses are presented as early, well-preserved examples of speculatively built post-Civil War row housing that marked the shift of Powelton from a suburb of country villas to part of the city. The nomination also cites their High Victorian character, their classical Second Empire detailing, and their value as an anchor for the neighborhood's southeastern corner.","narrative":"Four attached row houses at 3433 to 3439 Lancaster Avenue in Philadelphia were built about 1875 of brick, with facades of green serpentine limestone quarried about 30 miles west of the city. Each house has a wooden porch, a three-faceted second-story bay, and a concave mansard roof with two dormers, in the Second Empire style. The mansard is shingled in hexagonal slates with a lighter pattern, and the cornice is supported on paired brackets. The houses were developed speculatively by John Shedwick, who sold each one in 1876 to a different resident. Their construction marks the change of Powelton from a district of country estates to dense urban row housing after the Civil War. The serpentine facades have deteriorated over time and show cement patches. The houses are regarded as a well-preserved group of this transitional building type and as a last surviving link to Powelton's earlier character on Lancaster Avenue.","period_of_significance":"1875-1876","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Second Empire","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Exterior described as well-preserved; the houses have been partitioned into apartments.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:32.558318-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/82003814.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82003814/92b32fc51f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82003814/92b32fc51f-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shedwick_Philly.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shedwick_Philly.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71997212","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Shedwick_Development_Houses","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6257532"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/shedwick-john-development-houses-82003814/"}