{"nrhp_refnum":"86000315","name":"Newtown Historic District (Boundary Increase)","other_names":["See Also:Newtown Historic District"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"E side of Sycamore St. from Frost Ln. to Saint Andrew's Catholic Church","address_restricted":false,"city":"Newtown","county":"Bucks County","state":"PA","lat":40.23220524600006,"lon":-74.93457490708559,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-02-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Military","Exploration/Settlement","Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The Sycamore Street Extension is a boundary increase to the Newtown Historic District, located mainly in Newtown Township with one parcel in Newtown Borough, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It contains fifty-five buildings dating from about 1800 to 1970.","why_significant":"The extension is significant for its surviving town lot and farmstead pattern, its settler's cabins and vernacular middle-class houses, and its links to Newtown's planned layout and Revolutionary War history. The street developed on the former Newtown Common, and it is described as the section of the town that best represents William Penn's planned concept. Its historical associations with the wider district are considered part of the reason for including it.","narrative":"Along Sycamore Street in Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, a group of eighteenth and nineteenth century houses, cabins, and commercial buildings lines the edge of the former Newtown Common. The extension contains fifty-five buildings dating from about 1800 to 1970, with three rated significant, forty contributing, and twelve intrusive. Most are two-and-a-half-story frame dwellings with gable roofs, and thirteen are stone, including settler's cabins of one and a half to one and three-quarter stories that survive from the earliest period. The common was divided and sold as fifty-five small lots in 1796, and the street grew as a residential and commercial route subordinate to State Street. Its significance rests on its surviving town lot and farmstead pattern and its ties to the Revolutionary War, including use as a headquarters for George Washington and the only recorded combat in Bucks County, in February 1778. Newtown also served as county seat from 1724 to 1813.","period_of_significance":"1683-1935","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Vernacular","criteria":[],"status_note":"Twelve buildings are classed as intrusive, including mid-twentieth century service stations and a modern medical office. The Harris House on Sycamore Street was demolished in the mid-twentieth century.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:32.311035-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/86000315.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86000315/0cafcb5b4e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86000315/0cafcb5b4e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Shuvaev","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Newtown,_Bucks_Co_PA_HD_White_Hall.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Shuvaev</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:Newtown,_Bucks_Co_PA_HD_White_Hall.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"79002174","name":"Newtown Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/newtown-historic-district-79002174/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996755","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newtown_Historic_District_(Newtown,_Pennsylvania)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7020726"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/bucks-county/newtown-historic-district-boundary-increase-86000315/"}