Unionville Village Historic District
Why it's listed
Unionville is a crossroads village in the southeastern corner of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with more than sixty buildings dating from about 1750 to the late 1800s. Brick is the most common material, though there are stone and frame houses as well. The village was founded around John Jackson's brick house of 1751, which later served as the Cross Keys Inn from 1808 to 1833. Across the road, the Union Hotel was built in 1834 by Isaac Smith with a drovers' barn for cattle sold at the village. The Unionville Academy dates to 1834, the Presbyterian church to 1829 with its central section built in 1844, and Unionville Hall was completed in 1850 as the community center for lectures, dances and concerts. The district is significant because it preserves a farming village's commercial and social core, and its houses show how the settlement developed from the 1750s through the 1900s.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · catalog entry. Generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29).
| Period of significance | 1750-1900 |
|---|---|
| Styles | Late 18th century vernacular, early to mid 19th century townhouses, Victorian style, with Italianate, Gothic Revival, and colonial revival details |
| Areas of significance | Commerce, Architecture, Agriculture |
| Acreage | 120 |
| Boundary source | NPS cultural-resource GIS polygon |
| Full listing page | Unionville Village Historic District (property record) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.