{"nrhp_refnum":"83002286","name":"Kingston House","other_names":["Johnston House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"U.S. 30","address_restricted":false,"city":"Youngstown","county":"Westmoreland County","state":"PA","lat":40.29120259300004,"lon":-79.34117527299998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-06-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Transportation","Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Kingston House is a five-bay, 2½-story, single-pile center-hall house of rubble stone masonry on Loyalhanna Creek about three miles southeast of Latrobe in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. It was built around 1815 for Alexander Johnston and later operated as an inn along the Greensburg-Statystown road.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is significant for its role in early transportation and commerce as a long-running inn and stagecoach stop on a major east-west road, and for its association with the Johnston family, including Governor William Freame Johnston. It is also presented as a fine example of an early western Pennsylvania home, with unusual size and quality for its period and region.","narrative":"Built around 1815 for Alexander Johnston on Loyalhanna Creek near Latrobe, Kingston House is a five-bay, 2½-story rubble stone house with a central hall, one-story wings, and wood entablatures with brackets and fluted cornice details. Johnston, a Scots-Irish immigrant who had bought the Kingston tract in 1811, operated an early iron business there before turning the house into an inn. For roughly forty years it fed and lodged wagoneers, settlers and travelers on the road from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, and it served as a regular stagecoach stop in the 1840s. Guests reportedly included William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor during their campaigns. The house is also tied to the Johnston family. Johnston's son William Freame Johnston served as Pennsylvania's governor from 1848 and was the first Whig to hold the office. The house is regarded as an unusually fine early example of a western Pennsylvania home.","period_of_significance":"c.1815","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Federal vernacular","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as essentially unaltered from its original appearance, apart from an 1830 masonry wing and enclosed rear galleries.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:33.629437-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/83002286.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83002286/d85a3ee557-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83002286/d85a3ee557-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Canadian2006","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kingston_House_Johnston_House_Pa_2012.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Canadian2006</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:Kingston_House_Johnston_House_Pa_2012.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71998881","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingston_House_(Pennsylvania)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6413547"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/westmoreland-county/kingston-house-83002286/"}