{"nrhp_refnum":"04000842","name":"Four Stairs","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"840 Leigh Mill Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Great Falls","county":"Fairfax (city and county)","state":"VA","lat":38.986378165000076,"lon":-77.27620191199998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2004-08-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Exploration/Settlement","Politics/Government"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Four Stairs is a multi-part log and frame dwelling at 840 Leigh Mill Road in Great Falls, Fairfax County, Virginia, begun possibly in the 1730s as a one-room log house and enlarged in later centuries. The property also includes a family cemetery and a stone-lined well.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as a rare telescope-form example of an early up-country Potomac planter's residence and the only such surviving dwelling in Great Falls. Its log, timber-frame and Greek Revival sections show the evolution of regional vernacular building. It is also tied to Captain John Jackson, Jr., a Fairfax County justice of the peace and militia captain whose family lived there for five generations.","narrative":"Four Stairs is a house in Great Falls, Virginia, that grew in stages from a small log dwelling possibly built in the 1730s. The original one-room log house, with a loft, gained a log pen and a timber-framed kitchen, and its roofs were later raised to make two full stories. Around 1850 a Greek Revival frame addition created a formal central hall and shifted the main entrance to the north side. Each section remains distinct, giving the building a rare telescope form in which its construction history can be read from outside. Captain John Jackson, Jr., bought the property in 1796; he was a justice of the peace and militia captain, and his family lived there for five generations. The grounds include a family cemetery and a hand-dug stone-lined well. A restoration between 2002 and 2004 stabilized the structure and replaced worn materials with compatible hand-built work. The property was listed for its architecture, its link to Jackson, and its place in early settlement.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1737 to ca. 1850","architect_builder":"Unknown","architectural_style":"Colonial / Postmedieval English; Mid-19th Century / Greek Revival","criteria":["B","C"],"status_note":"A 2002-04 restoration/rehabilitation replaced deteriorated fabric in kind; the property remains in use as a single dwelling with a cemetery and well.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:02.531081-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/4/6805/41680504/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/04000842.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000842/2e98a64e11-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000842/2e98a64e11-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"JERRYE &amp; ROY KLOTZ MD","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FOUR_STAIRS.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">JERRYE &amp;amp; ROY KLOTZ MD</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:FOUR_STAIRS.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680504","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Stairs","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14712335"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/fairfax/four-stairs-04000842/"}