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.
Significance in brief: The district is presented as a crossroads village that grew in the 18th and 19th centuries as a self-sufficient agricultural community and later became a residential village after railroads and highways bypassed it. Its late 18th-century dwellings, early to mid 19th-century townhouses and Victorian residences form an architectural record of that development, and its settlement pattern has been kept with few intrusions.
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 79002205, listed June 6, 1979. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | PA 162 and PA 82, Unionville |
|---|---|
| County | Chester County |
| Listed | June 6, 1979 |
| Reference number | 79002205 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | 1750-1900 |
| Architectural style | 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 |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Most buildings are private residences and the village is described as being in the midst of restoration activities. |
| Acreage | 120 |
| Coordinates | 39.89509, -75.73516 (NPS GIS) |
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.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 79002205.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q7886894
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.