Property Details

2 1/2-story Greek Revival-style residence of wood frame construction, rectangular and symmetrical in plan. Gable roof with lateral orientation to the street. Windows flat-topped, with multi-light sash. Main entrance is centered on the façade, featuring a single 6-panel door flanked by a transom and sidelights, above which is a round-arched multi-light double-hung window on the second story. 1899 modifications include Heins & LaFarge-designed 2-story pedimented Ionic porticos. Long associated with the Pinchot family, the home was built by Cyrille Constantien Desiré Pinchot (1797-1874). Cyril’s son, James, was reared here and became the father of Pennsylvania Governor Gifford Pinchot. In 1899 the local newspaper reported that James Pinchot was remodeling the house and moving it back some distance from the street; this alteration, designed by the prominent New York firm of Heins and LaFarge, is confined in historic Sansom Fire Insurance Maps. The Pinchot family offered the house to the community as a library and meeting place and since 1923 it has been owned by the Community House Association. (ca. 1855)