Harvey, William, House
Why it's listed
Built after 1715 by William Harvey, a maltster who emigrated from Worcestershire, England, this stone bank house of two and a half stories on the north side and three and a half on the south stands in Pennsbury Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. Harvey bought 300 acres from Joseph and Hannah Gilpin in August 1715, and the house passed to his son William and later to his grandson Amos, whose 1821 will describes its rooms, doors and fireplaces in detail. The family were members of Concord Monthly Meeting, and a son, James, worked as a schoolmaster. The house is the earliest of five surviving Harvey family houses built in Chester County during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It stood in the line of fire at the Battle of the Brandywine on 11 September 1777, and local tradition holds that William Harvey the younger refused to leave until a cannonball broke through the kitchen wall. The building has been altered since, with a frame east wing added between 1930 and 1954 and the original south porch replaced.
Significance in brief: The house is the earliest of five remaining houses the Harvey family built in Chester County during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is associated with the Harvey family's local Quaker meeting involvement and with the Battle of the Brandywine in 1777, when it stood in the line of fire. The form notes that its interior layout was documented in a 1821 will and that no structural changes were made until remodeling after 1926.
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) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 71000690, listed May 27, 1971. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | NW of Chadds Ford on Brinton's Bridge Rd. off U.S. 1, Pennsbury Township, Chadds Ford |
|---|---|
| County | Chester County |
| Listed | May 27, 1971 |
| Reference number | 71000690 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | c. 1720 |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Military, Architecture |
| Level of significance | National |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Altered: a frame wing on the east was added 1930-1954 and a porch on the south replaced the original; the frame part was no longer present when the photograph was taken. |
| Acreage | 7.8 |
| Within district | Brandywine Battlefield |
| Coordinates | 39.87640, -75.61743 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
National Register listing is honorary for a privately owned home: it does not by itself restrict what an owner may do with their own money, and it does not require public access. Restrictions come from local landmark or historic-district ordinances, which are separate (how they differ).
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit, which applies to income-producing buildings, but many states offer credits for homeowners. Listing also opens the door to preservation easements and to buying a plaque. Start with what listing means for homeowners, renovating a listed house and selling one.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 71000690.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q8010992
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.