Craven Hall

The story

Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com

Craven Hall is a stone dwelling at 599 Newton Rd. near Warminster Heights in Warminster Township, Bucks County. Its main section, built about 1761 in the Georgian and Colonial styles, gained a center hall addition about 1814 and received Greek Revival detailing about 1845.

Why it's listed

It was listed under criterion C, with local significance in architecture, and the nomination gives its period of significance as 1761 to 1845, reflecting its construction about 1761.

Physical character

The house sits on about 1 acre, with stone and stuccoed walls, weatherboard and wood siding, a stone foundation, and roofs of wood shingle and slate. Its five bay facade has a front gabled portico with Tuscan posts and pilasters and sandstone quoins, and inside an open hearth fireplace and a partly reconstructed enclosed stair survive; a garage was added about 1930, a wood frame addition about 1940, and a concrete stair about 1953.

Historical context

General Harman Vansant built the house and is named as one of its architects, along with John Dickey. The house served as a single dwelling and later as a museum; Citizens for the Preservation of Craven Hall formed in 1978, leased it from 1979 to 1982, and received it by deed in 1990.