{"nrhp_refnum":"00000484","name":"Braehead","other_names":["Howison House","VDHR File No. 111-0306"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"123 Lee Dr.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Fredericksburg (Independent City)","county":"Fredericksburg","state":"VA","lat":38.281422445500056,"lon":-77.47286877131502,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2000-05-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Military"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Braehead is a two-story Greek Revival brick house at 123 Lee Drive in Fredericksburg, Virginia, built in 1858 by John Howison. It sits within the Lee Drive Battlefield Park, part of the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.","why_significant":"The house is a rare rural use of the side-passage plan, with double parlors, double basement dining rooms and an attached service wing, and it keeps its faux-grained interior finishes. It is also significant for its role in the Battles of Fredericksburg, serving as a landmark on the Confederate line and later as a Union hospital. It is the only nineteenth-century house surviving at the southern end of the battlefield.","narrative":"Braehead is a nine-bay, two-story brick house built in 1858 for John Howison on a hill overlooking the Rappahannock River in Fredericksburg. Its Greek Revival main block has a double-pile, side-passage plan, with a kitchen dependency joined to it by a one-story hyphen. The north and east facades are pressed brick in Flemish bond, while the service wings use common stock brick. Inside, double parlors with pocket doors, matching basement dining rooms and painted faux graining and marbling survive largely unchanged. The side-passage plan was common in the city but rarely used on rural estates in Spotsylvania County. The house also had a notable Civil War role. General Robert E. Lee's headquarters in 1862 stood on the plantation at Lee's Hill, and Lee and Longstreet reportedly breakfasted here before the battle. Confederate troops occupied the grounds in 1863, and Union forces took the house in 1864 and used it as a hospital. It is the only nineteenth-century house left at the battlefield's southern end.","period_of_significance":"1858-1864","architect_builder":"George Mullen","architectural_style":"Mid-19th Century/Greek Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Currently a private residence that also operates as a bed and breakfast; the interior is described as little changed since it was built.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:00.62179-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/47/6808/41680847/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/00000484.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000484/70560143a2-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000484/70560143a2-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Justinandsarah","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Braehead_123_Lee_Drive.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Justinandsarah</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Braehead_123_Lee_Drive.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680847","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braehead_(Fredericksburg,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4955313"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/fredericksburg/braehead-00000484/"}