{"nrhp_refnum":"02000446","name":"Spring Hill Farm","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1121 Spring Hill Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"McLean","county":"Fairfax (city and county)","state":"VA","lat":38.94830527600004,"lon":-77.22681846399996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2002-11-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Agriculture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A farmhouse with barns and landscape on about 25 acres at 1121 Spring Hill Road, McLean, Fairfax County, Virginia. The two-and-a-half-story frame house dates from about 1822, with a rear wing added in 1850.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the farm is a rare, large survivor of an early nineteenth-century farmhouse, with original woodwork and two historic barns on land that keeps its agricultural character. It is listed for architecture as a good example of an early Federal-period farmhouse. It is also listed for its link to Henry Alvord, the first dairy division chief of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.","narrative":"Spring Hill Farm is a rural property in McLean, Fairfax County, centered on a two-and-a-half-story frame farmhouse built about 1822 for the William Swink family. A rear wing was added in 1850. The house keeps its original mantels, doors, trim and a simple turned-newel staircase, and its foundations are local fieldstone. Two barns stand nearby, one probably built before the Civil War and one designed in 1890 by Henry E. Alvord, a noted dairy scientist. The farm sits among modern housing developments yet retains fields, ponds, springs, Bull Neck Run and a very old black oak. It matters as an unusually early and large example of its house type in western Fairfax County, and for its tie to Alvord, who became the first dairy division chief of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Earlier owners included the Fairfax, Scott and Alexander families, and the Swinks farmed grain and dairy.","period_of_significance":"1822-1904","architect_builder":"Unknown for house and first barn; Henry Alvord and O.G. Besley for second barn","architectural_style":"Early Republic/Federal; Mid-19th Century","criteria":["B","C"],"status_note":"Still used as a single dwelling with secondary structures; a replica springhouse has been rebuilt on the original foundation, and the porches were modified in 1972.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:59.480583-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/90/6804/41680490/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/02000446.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02000446/e193a1e3e4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02000446/e193a1e3e4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"ZeWrestler","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spring_Hill_Farm_-_McLean_VA.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">ZeWrestler</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:Spring_Hill_Farm_-_McLean_VA.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680490","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_Hill_Farm_(McLean,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14713238"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/fairfax/spring-hill-farm-02000446/"}