{"nrhp_refnum":"87002596","name":"Marshall, Humphry, House","other_names":["Marshall House,Marshall's Garden,Marshall's Arboretum,Botany"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1407 S. Strasburg Rd./PA 162","address_restricted":false,"city":"Marshallton","county":"Chester County","state":"PA","lat":39.950418207500036,"lon":-75.68134145458279,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1987-12-23","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1987-12-23","areas_of_significance":["Agriculture","Science","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-a-half story stone mansion with an ashlar facade, a frame barn and a botanic garden in the village of Marshallton, West Bradford Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. The mansion was built in 1773-1774 by Humphry Marshall, a mason and botanist.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is a rare surviving Pennsylvania country house built on the four-room side-passage plan and that it served as home, office, conservatory and laboratory for Humphry Marshall. The adjoining garden is described as one of the two surviving colonial American botanic gardens, and the house and garden are presented as linked to the development of early American science.","narrative":"Built in 1773-1774 in Marshallton, West Bradford Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, this stone mansion was constructed by the mason and botanist Humphry Marshall. Its four-room side-passage plan, with a double-pile kitchen wing, is described as rare in Pennsylvania. Features include a heated conservatory reached from the south door, a second-floor specimen cabinet built of oak, and a masonry mass that heated several rooms. Marshall ran the house as his home, office, warehouse and laboratory, and grew plants in a garden of about two acres to the south. Among the species he cultivated were winter aconite from John Bartram's garden and some of the first Ailanthus trees planted in America. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1785, and his botanical work and trade in seeds and specimens with European collectors are the main reasons the property is regarded as significant. Two surviving plants from his time are cited as evidence of the original garden design.","period_of_significance":"1773-1813","architect_builder":"Humphry Marshall","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","B","C","D"],"status_note":"Altered; the 1949 west wing is noncontributing and the barn is noncontributing.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:30.336952-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/87002596_NHL.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"86000056","name":"Marshallton Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/marshallton-historic-district-86000056/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71994239","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":null},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/chester-county/marshall-humphry-house-87002596/"}