{"nrhp_refnum":"85003159","name":"Richardson, Joseph, House","other_names":["Langhorne Community Memorial Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Bellevue and Maple Aves.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Langhorne","county":"Bucks County","state":"PA","lat":40.17606906000003,"lon":-74.91974467199998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-12-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Exploration/Settlement","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A plastered fieldstone house and former store at the main intersection of Maple and Bellevue Avenues in Langhorne Borough, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It is dated 1738 by a datestone and was the Richardson family residence for roughly two centuries before being donated for community use.","why_significant":"The house is argued to be one of the earliest identified historic structures in Bucks County and one of its earliest stores. Its pre-Georgian house plan, surviving Queen Anne paneling, and combined home and commercial use are presented as rare survivals from the first half of the eighteenth century. Its association with merchant Joseph Richardson and his family is also cited.","narrative":"Built in 1738 for merchant Joseph Richardson at the crossroads later known as Langhorne, this plastered fieldstone house combined a formal family residence with a working store. Its datestone reads J R M 1738, and the house is regarded as one of the oldest surviving buildings in Bucks County. Its pre-Georgian plan, with an asymmetrical five-bay facade and unmatched room sizes, predates the full Georgian style. The second-floor north chamber retains Queen Anne paneling considered the best preserved example of that treatment in the county. The gambrel-roofed kitchen wing, a stone cellar with a milk cellar, and 1772 inventory records of goods sold in the shop add to its value. Richardson was a wealthy local banker and merchant, and the house is valued for illustrating eighteenth-century commercial life in the region.","period_of_significance":"1738","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Donated for community use by the Richardson family in the early 20th century","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:33.834136-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/85003159.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85003159/132e5e6d1e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85003159/132e5e6d1e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joseph_Richardson_House_Langhorne_PA_Nov_09.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joseph_Richardson_House_Langhorne_PA_Nov_09.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"87001993","name":"Langhorne Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/langhorne-historic-district-87001993/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996163","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Richardson_House_(Langhorne_Borough,_Pennsylvania)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6286567"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/bucks-county/richardson-joseph-house-85003159/"}