{"nrhp_refnum":"00000889","name":"Reid-White-Philbin House","other_names":["E117-0014","Evergreen House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"208 W. Nelson St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lexington (Independent City)","county":"Lexington","state":"VA","lat":37.78564474600006,"lon":-79.44554547599995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2000-08-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Education"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story Flemish-bond brick Federal-style house at 208 West Nelson Street in Lexington, Virginia, begun in 1821 to a design by original owner Samuel McDowell Reid and built by carpenter Edward Sewell, with an earlier stone wing, an 1847 addition and two outbuildings.","why_significant":"The house is significant for its architectural evolution from an eighteenth-century stone dwelling through an 1821 Federal house and an 1847 Greek Revival addition. It is also tied to Samuel McDowell Reid, a prominent Rockbridge County clerk, legislator and Washington College trustee. The documented design drawings and specifications, and the survival of original finishes, add to its value. It is significant at the local level.","narrative":"Begun in 1821 on a ridge in Lexington, this two-story Flemish-bond brick house at 208 West Nelson Street was designed by its first owner, Samuel McDowell Reid, and built with carpenter Edward Sewell. Its Federal features include an Ionic-columned entry porch, unusual three-part windows, a limestone rubble basement and a barrel-vaulted entry hall ceiling. Behind it stands a stone wing that probably dates to the later eighteenth century, and about 1847 a Greek Revival brick addition with a two-tier portico was added. Surviving drawings and specifications by Reid show how the house was planned. Reid served as county court clerk, state legislator and Washington College trustee for fifty years. The property also holds a brick dependency thought to have housed enslaved people and a modernized early twentieth-century carriage house. Later changes include use as a fraternity house from about 1959 and a restoration from the 1970s to the 1980s. The nomination treats it as locally significant.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1750-1869","architect_builder":"Samuel McDowell Reid (designer and original owner); Edward Sewell (builder/carpenter)","architectural_style":"Federal","criteria":[],"status_note":"Used as a private single dwelling; restored by its owners, with the front stair returned to its original position and the fireplaces made functional.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:59.836884-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/0/6815/41681500/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/00000889.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000889/d33599af15-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000889/d33599af15-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Unknown authorUnknown author","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reid-White-Philbin_House_Lexington_VA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Unknown authorUnknown author</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reid-White-Philbin_House_Lexington_VA.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"72001506","name":"Lexington Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/lexington-historic-district-72001506/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41681500","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reid%E2%80%93White%E2%80%93Philbin_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16899192"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/lexington/reid-white-philbin-house-00000889/"}