{"nrhp_refnum":"86000699","name":"Barrett, George, Concrete House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"4 E. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Spring Valley","county":"Greene County","state":"OH","lat":39.60915382600007,"lon":-84.00822786699996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-04-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Invention"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-a-half-story Greek Revival house of poured concrete at 4 East Main Street in Spring Valley, Greene County, Ohio, built in 1853 by its owner George Barrett. It is attached to an older frame wing and kitchen dating from about 1847.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is the oldest known concrete house in Ohio and a rare example of mid-nineteenth-century gravel wall construction. Barrett designed and built it himself after a fire destroyed his frame house in 1852. He documented the work in an 1854 book that also criticized Orson Squire Fowler's octagon and gravel wall methods.","narrative":"Built in 1853 at the foot of the Shawnee Indian Mound in Spring Valley, Ohio, this Greek Revival house has poured concrete walls 13 inches thick on the first story and 9 inches on the second. George Barrett, a wealthy woolen manufacturer, designed it after fire destroyed his frame home in 1852. He hauled gravel from the Little Miami River, helped build up the walls himself, and moved his family in by autumn 1853. The concrete section is joined to a surviving frame wing and kitchen from about 1847. Barrett disagreed with Orson Squire Fowler's octagon-house ideas and described his own methods in an 1854 book, The Poor Man's Home, and Rich Man's Palace. The house is considered the oldest known concrete house in Ohio. Neighbors called it the Stone House, and no other concrete houses appeared locally until the early twentieth century. It has been divided into apartments and has some deteriorated porch columns, but its original character remains largely intact.","period_of_significance":"1853","architect_builder":"George Barrett","architectural_style":"Greek Revival","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Occupied as a private residence divided into three apartments; condition rated fair, with a deteriorated porch and altered interiors.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:14.409723-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/86000699.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86000699/cb7566a565-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86000699/cb7566a565-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:George_Barrett_Concrete_House.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:George_Barrett_Concrete_House.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"89000431","name":"Main Street Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/ohio/main-street-historic-district-89000431/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71988740","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138348639"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/greene-county/barrett-george-concrete-house-86000699/"}