{"nrhp_refnum":"04000575","name":"Monroe Hill","other_names":["Brown College","VA DHR File# 104-0124"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"252 and 256 McCormick Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Charlottesville (Independent City)","county":"Charlottesville","state":"VA","lat":38.034574414000076,"lon":-78.50709475999997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2004-06-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Education"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Monroe Hill is a complex of four contributing brick buildings at 252 and 256 McCormick Road in Charlottesville, Virginia, overlooking the University of Virginia grounds. It began with a law office and farmhouse built around 1790 for James Monroe.","why_significant":"The complex is argued to be significant for its association with commerce and education, and for its architecture, including an early law office and a Greek Revival main house. It grew from Monroe's small dwelling into housing for the University of Virginia's proctor and for state-funded students.","narrative":"Monroe Hill is a group of four brick buildings on McCormick Road in Charlottesville, overlooking the University of Virginia grounds. The oldest part is a one-and-one-half-story law office built around 1790 for James Monroe, who also built a small dwelling and a frame kitchen there. Monroe spent little time on the property. In 1814 John Perry, a builder who worked under Thomas Jefferson, bought it and enlarged the house into a double-pile, five-bay residence with Greek Revival details. Perry later sold the land to be held for the University of Virginia. The house served as home to the university proctor, and in 1848 two arcaded ranges of six student rooms each, Dawson's Row and Brown Range, were added for students on state scholarships. After the Civil War the main house was remodeled. A residential college was established on the site in 1986 and renamed Brown College in 1994. The complex remains in educational use today, with the law office preserved among the student ranges.","period_of_significance":"1790-1953","architect_builder":"Unknown","architectural_style":"Early Republic; Early Classical Revival - Greek Revival (main house)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still used for educational purposes as a residential college, now known as Brown College; the main house serves as the principal's house.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:03.01433-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/15/6801/41680115/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/04000575.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000575/499f404667-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000575/499f404667-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.5","author":"Sarah Tweedt; original uploader was Streetslight at en.wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brown_College_at_Monroe_Hill_(Virginia).JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Sarah Tweedt; original uploader was Streetslight at en.wikipedia</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.5</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brown_College_at_Monroe_Hill_(Virginia).JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680115","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_College_at_Monroe_Hill","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4976097"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/charlottesville/monroe-hill-04000575/"}