Hunting Lodge Farm is a historic house located near

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

in Oxford Township, Butler County,

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Constructed as a

hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

lodge, it has been used by multiple prominent local residents, and its distinctive architecture has made it worthy of designation as a

historic site A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been re ...

. Built of brick and set upon a stone foundation, Hunting Lodge Farm is covered with a

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d asphalt roof.Curry, Lucy.
Ohio Historic Inventory Nomination: The Gothic on Bonham Road
'.

Ohio Historical Society Ohio History Connection, formerly The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society and Ohio Historical Society, is a nonprofit organization incorporated in 1885. Headquartered at the Ohio History Center in Columbus, Ohio, Ohio History Connect ...

, 1978-07-01. The building has been deemed an example of the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

style of architecture,Owen, Lorrie K., ed. ''Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places''. Vol. 1. St. Clair Shores: Somerset, 1999, 94. due largely to a few triangular windows that derive from traditional construction styles employed in the construction of hunting lodges in

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

. Overall, its architecture is more typical of the

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

style, due to elements such as a symmetrical front facade, Tuscan columns on the front porch, and a

trabeated Post and lintel (also called prop and lintel, a trabeated system, or a trilithic system) is a building system where strong horizontal elements are held up by strong vertical elements with large spaces between them. This is usually used to hold ...

side porch. The second

story Story or stories may refer to: Common uses * Narrative, an account of imaginary or real people and events ** Short story, a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting ** News story, an event or topic reported by a news orga ...

features components such as dormer windows, transoms, and an ornate

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

with

dentil A dentil (from Lat. ''dens'', a tooth) is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice. Dentils are found in ancient Greek and Roman architecture, and also in later styles such as Neoclassical, Federal, Georgian Rev ...

s. Built in 1833, the house was used as a hunting lodge for only a few years; it has been a residence since 1840. Although located atop a hill above Four Mile Creek, the house occupies a comparatively obscure location; its driveway is crooked, and it is surrounded by woodland. Both the inside and the outside of the house remain well maintained with comparatively few changes from 1840. The earliest owners, Henry Orne and Isaac Gere, are responsible for the house's overall plan and its unique elements, even though it was home from 1872 until 1895 to Lazarus Noble Bonham, a prominent journalist, educator, and Ohio Secretary of Agriculture.Lazarus N. Bonham

, 2013-05-23. Accessed 2013-11-25. In late 1982, the Hunting Lodge Farm was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

, qualifying both because of its historic architecture and because of its connection to numerous important individuals. It is one of four National Register-listed locations in Oxford Township, along with the Austin-Magie Farm and Mill District, the Zachariah Price Dewitt Cabin, and the Pugh's Mill Covered Bridge.

References

{{NRHP in Butler County, Ohio Houses completed in 1833 Greek Revival houses in Ohio Houses in Butler County, Ohio Hunting lodges in the United States National Register of Historic Places in Butler County, Ohio