National Register Nominations

In addition to other types of historic preservation activities CHAD specializes in authoring National Register nominations for the National Register of Historic Places program run by the National Parks Service. Check out some of our recent nominations below! 

Downtown Harrington Historical District

The Downtown Harrington Historical District is an example of a prominent railroad crossroads town. It represents the development patterns associated with arrival and growth of the Delaware Railroad. Before the construction of the railroad, the land was known as Clarks Corner which consisted of extensive farms, timber stands and other raw materials. After studying successful railroads in Philadelphia, Wilmington, and England construction began in 1856. Commercial and Industrial growth ensued in the following years with a boom in population and commerce from 1870-1950. The town of Clarks Corner was renamed Harrington in honor of Samuel Harrington, whose tireless work not only led to the completion of the railroad but also promised the town decades of prosperity. Little survives on the landscape from the earliest development of the town, however Harrington is still a functioning district. The area exhibits local, regional, and national trends of the late 19th Century and early 20th Century. If you take a walk through the town youll be sure to find homes reflecting the Romantic, Victorian, Gothic Revival, Italianate, Bungalow, Kit, Art Deco and Colonial Revival styles.

Newark Union Church and Cemetery

The Newark Union Church and Cemetery was built at 8 and 20 Newark Union Public Road, Wilmington DE in 1845. The church was constructed from local fieldstone first as a simple meetinghouse. A renovation in 1906 turned the building into a late Gothic Revival style church with a stuccoed exterior, a gable roof, and projecting frame vestibule on the east elevation. The meetinghouse has served as a place of worship for a wide range of religions, including Quakers, Methodists, Presbyterians, Anglicans, and Non-Denominational Christians. The most significant factor of this historical site is its representation of the influence of European settlement in Northern Delaware and the past religious practices over the course of three centuries.

The Cemetery represents the evolving religious demographics of the residents North of Wilmington over several centuries. The first legible dated burial marker on site dates back to 1757, which is symbolic of the end of the Quaker era at Newark Union. Gravestones and monuments range from styles from the Romantic-era to Greco-Roman and Egyptian-Inspired. The cemetery contains about 500 marked burials dating back to the mid-18th century to the present. 

Cox-Phillips-Mitchell Agricultural Complex

The Cox-Phillips-Mitchell House constructed 1726, is a large farm complex consisting of seven historic structures including the dwelling, a circa 1740s bank barn, stable/grananry, chicken coop/piggery, a corncrib-granary, and a machine shed. 

The Cox-Phillips-Mitchell Agricultural Complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion "A" as an excellent example of the practice of remodeling agricultural complexes in Delaware during the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The Cox-Phillips-Mitchell Agricultural Complex is significant at the local level for its representation of these changes as they occurred specifically in Mill Creek Hundred.  The period of significance begins in 1789, when William Phillips II inherited the property from his father, and ends in 1960. The Cox-Phillips-Mitchell Agricultural Complex was listed on the National Register in March of 2017.

"901"

Listed March, 2017 the Contemporary house known simply as 901 (pronounced nine-oh-one) to its owners, is located at 901 Mount Lebanon Road, in the hilly piedmont region of Delaware. 901 was nominated under Criterion "C" for its architecture. Constructed in 1950, the house is an example of the Contemporary style that emerged after World War II in the United States, as well as an example the organic architectural method as espoused by Frank Lloyd Wright and other early advocates of modern house design. The horizontal orientation of the house, its organic relationship to the surrounding landscape, its rational design based on interior space, and the forward-looking style of the house and its builders make 901 a significant, one-of-a-kind artifact of the post-World War II era in the state of Delaware.

901 is sited on the crest of a large hill above the Brandywine Creek, enjoying a long view across its wooded valley. The footprint of the one-story house resembles a half-octagon. The central, main block is flanked by two main wings, each roughly equal in size to the center block, with each bending towards the road at approximately a 45 degree angle.  While the south wing is rectangular, the northwest wing is shaped like a boot, the heel of which attaches to the main block. The northeast wing is adjoined by yet another rectangular wing, the garage section, which bends at an additional 45-degree angle so that the garage block is at a 90-degree angle to the main block of the house. With walls clad in stone, the house is topped with a very low-pitched gabled roof, significantly reducing its profile and further enhancing its decidedly horizontal orientation.

Augustine Beach Hotel (Amendment)

 A completely new nomination was written for Augustine Beach Hotel--which was first listed in 1973. This nomination focused on the beach hotel's role in 19th century coastal entertainment and recreation. The Augustine Beach Hotel is an imposing two-and-a-half story, six-bay, brick, Federal style, commercial structure, located south of Port Penn in Delaware. Built circa 1816, and expanded in at least three building phases--including a notable circa 1870s frame dance pavilion. 

Nominated to the National Register under Criterion "A" for being a highly significant local beach hotel the Augustine used to be the centerpiece of a large bustling resort complex that included a hotel, dance hall, bathhouses, a beach, a wharf and piers. While the resort was popular with locals, this water-oriented tourist-destination also attracted droves of vacationers from Philadelphia via steamboat. The Augustine Beach Hotel represents an era when the Delaware River functioned as a commercial and recreational waterway. After two centuries the Augustine Beach Hotel continues its nearly uninterrupted association with recreation and hospitality, functioning as a bar and restaurant. 

The National Register of Historic Places accepted the additional materials and officially amended the nomination in January 2016. 

Grantham-Edwards-McComb House

The Grantham-Edwards-McComb House (listed January 2016) is a two-and-a-half story, Federal Style, brick dwelling in New Castle Hundred, Delaware. Constructed between 1804 and 1817, the dwelling was built by Isaac Grantham, which Grantham used primarily as a tenant house for his relatives. In the 1830s a Pennsylvania Quaker farmer, Edward Edwards, purchased the property and added the substantial brick kitchen wing. After the Civil War, Colonel Henry S. McComb, purchased the property and made the last substantial change to the house--further extending the brick kitchen wing. McComb's primary residence was in Wilmington, Delaware--under his tenure the house again was used as a tenant house. 

The Grantham-Edwards-McComb house was nominated under criterion "A" and "C." The dwelling is significant under Criterion A, as the house was associated with the historic theme of Agricultural tenancy in Delaware that occurred from 1730 to 1900. Additionally, the house was nominated under Criterion "C" as being an excellent example of Federal Style architecture in rural Delaware.

Holly Oak

Holly Oak (listed April 2017) is a Georgian-style, three-bay, two-and-a-half-story, stone and frame dwelling, located three miles south of the Pennsylvania and Delaware border, in the vicinity of Claymont, Brandywine Hundred, Delaware. Constructed by Caleb Perkins in 1774, the dwelling originally consisted of an early log portion and the current stone main core. The Perkins family owed the dwelling until 1854, but had sold off pieces the original 154 acre parcel of land and tenant farmers inhabited the house. Charles P. Mahoney, an iron merchant, purchased the property in 1854, but allowed the tenant Xavier Lapier (French immigrant and flag maker by trade) to remain in the dwelling. John H. Longstreet, president of the Philadelphia Real Estate Investment Company and the president and treasurer of the Lawndale Land Company, bought the property in 1889. Longstreet reassembled the original 154-acre tract of land that once belonged to the Perkins family, along with additional acreage, and plotted the Holly Oak subdivision in 1901. However, this subdivision never came to fruition. The rear service ell was added between 1900 and 1920, and by 1940 the stone sun room to the southeast was constructed.

Holly Oak was nominated under criterion "A" and "C." The dwelling is significant under Criterion A, for its association with the historic theme of stone construction in Brandywine Hundred, Delaware, which occurred from 1770 to 1960. Additionally, the house was nominated under Criterion "C" as being an example of Federal Style architecture in rural Delaware.