A late 1970s photograph of the exterior of the Theodore Gratz House, south side of West Market Street, Gratz, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. The house was built before 1840 and was occupied by Theodore Gratz and his family at the time he became the first mayor (burgess) of Gratz after the town became a borough. Theodore Gratz was the son of Simon Gratz for whom the town was named.
When the photograph was taken, the house was in the process of being renovated by its new owners.
From the fan window on the third floor, an eastward view of Gratz can be seen.
From inside the house in the central hall area and stairs, another fan window is seen above the front door, with the front porch railing seen through the open door.
According to the article that accompanied the above photographs, the house was built in Georgian-Federal style, with the same size rooms and features on each side of the central hallway.
These photos appeared in a local newspaper in the late 1970s at the time the house was being renovated. The article accompanying the photographs described how the house was built in sections – added to by successive owners – and noted some of the interior features of the house. However, several historical errors were made, including that Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence in a somewhat identical house in Philadelphia owned by the father of Theodore Gratz, Simon Gratz, who was also the namesake of the town. The house in Philadelphia where Jefferson stayed at the time of the writing of the Declaration was owned by the Graff family, not the Gratz family.
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