{"nrhp_refnum":"84003312","name":"Wee Grimmet","other_names":["See also:Ostheimer, Martha and Maurice, Estate"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"624 W. Lincoln Hwy.","address_restricted":false,"city":"West Whiteland","county":"Chester County","state":"PA","lat":40.02103761700005,"lon":-75.66139357199995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-08-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Industry"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A stone house known as Wee Grimmet in West Whiteland Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, on West Lincoln Highway. Its circa 1820 stuccoed stone core is a two-story, single-pile dwelling, joined to a 20th-century wing.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is the only surviving single-family worker's house associated with West Whiteland's limestone industry to have survived relatively intact, and the only structure remaining from the Roberts/Sheehy quarries. It is also presented as a well-preserved example of vernacular housing built for a tenant worker, with an original two-room plan and three fireplaces. The 1939-era wing is described as enhancing the small core rather than overwhelming it.","narrative":"Wee Grimmet is a stuccoed stone house in West Whiteland Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, built around 1820 as a dwelling for workers at a nearby limestone quarry and lime kilns in the Great Valley. The core is two stories with a full cellar and attic, a two-room plan on each floor, and fireplaces on both gable ends of the first floor, one of which retains original crane hardware for cooking. An 1848 notice advertised the house for rent together with the quarry and kilns, and an 1888 purchase placed the house and twenty acres in the hands of Edward Sheehy, a lime manufacturer. Its significance lies in its association with the limestone industry that once flourished throughout the valley and in its preservation as a tenant worker's cottage, one of the few such houses of its type in the area to survive largely intact. A wing added about 1939 to the east, designed by the Philadelphia architect Gilbert McIlvaine, extends the house with a library, kitchen and bedrooms while keeping the original scale.","period_of_significance":"1820-1839","architect_builder":"Gilbert McIlvaine (architect of the wing)","architectural_style":"Vernacular","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Residence, non-farm; present use listed as residence. Condition recorded as above average.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:32.093637-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/84003312.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84003312/5bb1d2ffbf-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84003312/5bb1d2ffbf-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wee_Grimmet.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wee_Grimmet.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71992727","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wee_Grimmet","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7979281"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/chester-county/wee-grimmet-84003312/"}