PHMC
Carol Lee and June Evans of the PHMC did a site visit. The PHMC is the SHPO for the NPS. (Okay, in english: The Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission is the State Historic Preservation Office for the National Park Service, who administers the National Register of Historic Places.) They agreed that the mansion and its “supporting buildings” (the summer kitchen, paymaster’s office, and outhouse – yes, outhouse) could be listed by itself.
Several people, including our contractor, warned us that the PHMC would make all sorts of unreasonable demands. (Some even told us we’d be better off doing the work first and asking forgiveness later!) Well, I’m happy to say, nothing could be further from the truth. As Barb explained, the National Register understands not all buildings can be museums, and so they have no problem with us adding bathrooms. In fact, between the county permits and the National Register listing, it looks like we significantly over-estimated the time we needed.