{"nrhp_refnum":"00000891","name":"Peabody Building of the Peabody-Williams School","other_names":["123-5019"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Jones St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Petersburg (Independent City)","county":"Petersburg","state":"VA","lat":37.223135066000054,"lon":-77.40669775899994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2000-08-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Black","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story red brick school building on Jones Street in Petersburg, Virginia, built in 1920 as the public high school for African American students. It was designed by architect Charles M. Robinson as one of a twin pair of buildings with the Williams Building.","why_significant":"It was the first building in Petersburg constructed exclusively as a high school for African American students and is the oldest surviving school in the city built for them. It reflects education and ethnic heritage under a segregated school system. It also represents the work of Charles M. Robinson, a noted designer of Virginia school buildings, and a traditional school plan used statewide.","narrative":"Built in 1920 on Jones Street in Petersburg, Virginia, this two-story red brick building served as the city's public high school for African American students during the era of segregated schooling. It was one of a matching pair with the Williams Building, a junior high school destroyed by fire in 1967. The T-shaped Peabody Building holds classrooms in the front section and an auditorium at the rear, with a projecting center entry, wooden cornice and a brownstone watertable. Architect Charles M. Robinson, known for educational buildings across Virginia, designed it. The school was the first in Petersburg built exclusively as a high school for Black students and served in that role until 1950, when a new high school opened. An elementary school then used it into the 1960s. It is now the oldest surviving school in the city built for African American children, and it conveys both local educational history and a standard Virginia school design. The building is currently vacant.","period_of_significance":"1920-1950","architect_builder":"Charles M. Robinson","architectural_style":"Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals/Vernacular Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Current function is listed as vacant, not in use; the form notes the building is in need of repair but retains all of its original architectural features.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:59.883697-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/38/6825/41682538/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/00000891.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000891/f6eb80112f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000891/f6eb80112f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jweaver28","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peabody_School_Petersburg.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jweaver28</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:Peabody_School_Petersburg.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"100002886","name":"Halifax Triangle and Downtown Commercial Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/halifax-triangle-and-downtown-commercial-historic-district-100002886/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41682538","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peabody_Building_of_the_Peabody-Williams_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7157222"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/petersburg/peabody-building-of-the-peabody-williams-school-00000891/"}