{"nrhp_refnum":"83003575","name":"Beith, William, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"6 Indiana St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"St. Charles","county":"Kane County","state":"IL","lat":41.91107623500005,"lon":-88.31289609399994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-12-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story Greek Revival riverstone house with a recessed one-story ell at 6 Indiana Street, St. Charles, Kane County, Illinois, built in 1850 by stonemason William Beith for his own family.","why_significant":"It is one of the few surviving riverstone houses in the St. Charles area that has not been stuccoed or significantly altered. It was the home of William Beith, a prominent stonemason, contractor and builder in the Fox River Valley who was Kane County's leading builder until 1865. Beith also helped introduce field tile manufacture in Aurora.","narrative":"Built in 1850 at 6 Indiana Street in St. Charles, this simple Greek Revival house was constructed of Lamont riverstone rubble by William Beith for his own family. It has a two-story main block with a recessed one-story ell, a gabled roof, and six-over-six windows. Inside, the house retains cast iron door latches and hinges, random-width pine flooring, and a full stone basement. Beith learned stone masonry from his father in Scotland. His first St. Charles contract, in 1843, was the Congregational Church, and he went on to build many prominent structures in St. Charles, Batavia and Aurora, with work reaching Chicago. Until 1865 he was the most prominent contractor and builder in Kane County. He later helped start field tile manufacture in Aurora, which made much lowland farmable. The house is valued as one of the few area riverstone homes not stuccoed or heavily altered. Local tradition links Beith to abolitionism, though no written proof of an underground railway tunnel has been found.","period_of_significance":"1850-1865","architect_builder":"Beith, William","architectural_style":"Greek Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by a restoration organization, in restoration work (1983) with window sashes restored in 1982, floors and joists repaired, and a museum use planned; condition listed as fair.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:34.892174-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/70/8931/28893170/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/83003575.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83003575/1d04499937-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83003575/1d04499937-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"G LeTourneau","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Beith_House_(St._Charles,_IL)_01.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">G LeTourneau</a>, <a href=\"http://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:William_Beith_House_(St._Charles,_IL)_01.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28893170","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Beith_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8005337"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/kane-county/beith-william-house-83003575/"}