{"nrhp_refnum":"92000453","name":"Ava Town Hall","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"NY 26 S of jct. with Ava Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Ava","county":"Oneida County","state":"NY","lat":43.41670734400003,"lon":-75.48011853699995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1992-05-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story wood-frame town hall built in 1897 beside N.Y. Route 26 in the rural hamlet of Ava, Oneida County, New York, about 15 miles north of Rome. A small 1897 privy on the lot is also counted as a contributing resource.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building meets Criterion C as a rare and exceptionally intact example of a late nineteenth century rural assembly hall. It reflects vernacular building practice, with mass-produced lumber and millwork and good craftsmanship. It retains nearly all of its original materials and finishes, and few comparable buildings in the region have this level of integrity.","narrative":"Built in 1897 on a quarter-acre lot beside N.Y. Route 26, this two-story balloon-frame town hall serves the rural hamlet of Ava in Oneida County. It has a T-shaped plan, a stone foundation, intersecting gable roofs, cedar clapboard siding and two-over-two windows. Inside, open assembly halls on both floors are finished in varnished beaded wainscoting, and a cast iron stove with an 1879 patent date still stands in the first-floor hall. Local builders Jacob Fey and Philip Shankenbery constructed it for $850 after the town bought the site for $50. It hosted town meetings, elections, suppers, receptions and family reunions. Its design resembles post-Civil War rural schoolhouses and shows Late Victorian character without ornate detail. The building was listed for its architecture because almost all original materials survive, with only ca. 1920 lighting fixtures added. Regular use ended in the 1960s, and town business now takes place elsewhere.","period_of_significance":"1897","architect_builder":"Fey, Jacob; Shankenbery, Philip","architectural_style":"Late Victorian","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Listed as vacant/not in use. Used sporadically as a polling place and for limited storage since the 1960s; deferred maintenance but relatively good physical condition.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:44.771491-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/92000453.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/92000453/a08d5f40a2-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/92000453/a08d5f40a2-1600.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:Ava_Town_Hall_Ava_NY_Jan_12.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:Ava_Town_Hall_Ava_NY_Jan_12.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75320165","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ava_Town_Hall","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4827390"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/oneida-county/ava-town-hall-92000453/"}