Bellefonte Forge House

Infobox_nrhp
name = Bellefonte Forge House
nrhp_type =

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caption = Bellefonte Forge House, Spring Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania
location= 110 Forge Rd
Spring Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania
lat_degrees = 40
lat_minutes = 54
lat_seconds = 21
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 77
long_minutes = 46
long_seconds = 41
long_direction = W
locmapin = Pennsylvania
area =
built = 1803
architect= Lowry, John G.; Patterson, John
architecture= Federal
added = August 20, 1999
governing_body = Private
refnum = 99001020cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service #99001020] The Bellefonte Forge House, also known as the John Dunlop House, is located just south of Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, in Spring Township, Centre County. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, due to its connection with prominent figures in the iron industry of the early 19th century and because of its domestic architecture influenced by the Federal style.

Origins

It was built in 1803 by an ironmaster, John Dunlop, who lived there with his wife and four daughters until he was killed in an iron mine collapse in October 1814. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Construction

Made of limestone, this two and a half story house was constructed in the vernacular form of the Federal or Georgian style with ten and a half foot ceiling heights. It originally had nine fireplaces, but two were removed to make a modern kitchen in the 1930s. It is thought that a John G. Lowry was the architect, as he was the only registered architect in the area at that time and was also in the employment of his cousin, John Dunlop. Building receipts for the finish carpenter, John Patterson, can still be found in the Centre County Library and Historical Museum in Bellefonte.

Role in the Iron Industry

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries Bellefonte became the center of a large iron industry. John Dunlop was one of the most energetic and prosperous of those that went into that business, building Harmony Forge (1795), Bell Fonte Forge (1797), Logan Furnace (1797), and Washington Forge (1810). It was his father, Lt. Col. James Dunlop, and his brother-in-law, James Harris, who actually laid out the town, now a Borough, of Bellefonte from land that John Dunlop owned. [Linn, John Blair, "History of Centre and Clinton Counties", Philadelphia, Louis Everts, 1883.]

After John Dunlop's death

After John Dunlop's death, his iron business was rented, then bought by ironmasters in the Valentine family 1815-1879. This home represents the wealth of those ironmasters as the Valentines added the Victorian porches in the 1860s.

Restoratation

The Bellefonte Forge House was continuously used until 1994, when it became vacant and was damaged by vandals and animals. However, after 2001 it was restored to its past condition. ["Centre Daily Times", " "House has varied history," September 30, 1989.]

Today, the Bellefonte Forge House still overlooks the water of Logan's Branch where John Dunlop started his Bell Fonte Forge in 1797.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.bellefontearts.org/Virtual_walk/Forge_House.htm Walking Tour of Bellefonte: Forge House]