{"nrhp_refnum":"83004322","name":"Normandy Farms","other_names":["Normandy United Methodist Church"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"450 W. Alex-Bell Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Centerville","county":"Montgomery County","state":"OH","lat":39.645966438000045,"lon":-84.16931395130642,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-11-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture","Invention"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Normandy Farms is a 38-room English Manor style mansion on about 12 acres near Centerville, Montgomery County, Ohio, built in 1929 as the estate home of Richard H. Grant. It is now used as the Normandy United Methodist Church.","why_significant":"The nomination argues significance under criteria B and C. It is a late-1920s estate home in English Manor style with unusual structural, decorative and convenience features, notable on a regional and perhaps statewide basis. It was also the home from 1929 to 1955 of Richard Grant, an industrialist, inventor and General Motors vice-president.","narrative":"Built in 1929 as the estate of industrialist and inventor Richard H. Grant, this 38-room manor house near Centerville, Ohio, is now a Methodist church. Designed by the New York firm Peabody, Wilson & Brown with Dayton associate Edwin F. Simpson, it follows the English Manor style, with stucco and rough stone walls, leaded casement windows, a slate roof, six chimneys and an octagonal stair tower. Its frame is concrete and structural steel, unusual for a house. Inside are imported paneling, antique fireplaces and medieval stained glass medallions. Grant, a General Motors vice-president, lived here from 1929 to 1955, and the house reflects his inventiveness, with features such as automatic closet lights and early air conditioning. A gate house, swimming pool and landscaped grounds by Samuel Zehrung accompany it. A large octagonal sanctuary was added behind the house and is largely hidden from the front. The orchards that gave the farm its name have mostly disappeared.","period_of_significance":"1929","architect_builder":"Peabody, Wilson & Brown, N.Y. (Edwin F. Simpson, associate in Dayton); landscape design by Samuel Zehrung","architectural_style":"English Manor Style (Medieval English Manor)","criteria":["B","C"],"status_note":"Occupied and in use as a church; a new octagonal sanctuary has been added at the rear and the grounds are partly overgrown. The form lists condition as excellent/good and altered.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:14.859011-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/83004322.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83004322/b52166c264-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83004322/b52166c264-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Pjsham","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Normandy_United_Methodist_Church_2.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Pjsham</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:Normandy_United_Methodist_Church_2.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71990537","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138590795"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/montgomery-county/normandy-farms-83004322/"}