{"nrhp_refnum":"90001033","name":"Bost-Burris House","other_names":["Burris,Elias House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Jct. of SR 1149 and SR 1154","address_restricted":false,"city":"Newton","county":"Catawba County","state":"NC","lat":35.666916239000045,"lon":-81.24917633599995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1990-07-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Exploration/Settlement","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story, three-bay frame farmhouse on the western outskirts of Newton in central Catawba County, North Carolina, built about 1810 by house carpenter Elias Bost, with later one-and-one-half-story and one-story ells added. Its outbuildings include a mortise-and-tenon structure once used as a potato house and a frame granary.","why_significant":"The house is argued to hold the most elaborate and fully developed early Federal detailing in Catawba County, especially the parlor mantel, overmantel, crossetted window surrounds and corner cupboards. It is also tied to Elias Bost's craftsmanship and to St. Paul's Lutheran Church, which has similar form and detailing, representing the work of the second generation of German-speaking settlers in the county.","narrative":"Built about 1810 by Elias Bost, a house carpenter, this two-story, three-bay frame farmhouse stands on Clarks Creek just west of Newton in Catawba County. The original section follows a hall-and-parlor plan and holds the parlor's Federal mantel with overmantel, fluted pilasters, crossetted window surrounds and two built-in corner cupboards. The house was the seat of a prosperous antebellum farm, and Bost, who was also a blacksmith and carpenter, is documented in the 1850s as having received payments for contract work on the Western North Carolina Railroad. Its form and interior woodwork closely resemble St. Paul's Lutheran Church, which Bost and his brothers are traditionally credited with building around the same time. The house is valued for its high-quality craftsmanship and for representing the early settlement and building traditions of German-speaking families in the county. Later ells, added around the Civil War, in the 1870s and in the late 1890s, show the simpler vernacular work of those periods.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1810","architect_builder":"Bost, Elias (builder)","architectural_style":"Federal","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Occupied as a residence by the present owner's family; the owner lives nearby with a caretaker on the property.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:42.229728-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/41/7174/47717441/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/90001033.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90001033/873c317112-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90001033/873c317112-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Librerica","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bost_Burris_House.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Librerica</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bost_Burris_House.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47717441","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bost-Burris_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18148508"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/catawba-county/bost-burris-house-90001033/"}