{"nrhp_refnum":"06000050","name":"Jefferson School, Carver Recreation Center, and School Site","other_names":["104-5087"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"233 Fourth St., NW","address_restricted":false,"city":"Charlottesville (Independent City)","county":"Charlottesville","state":"VA","lat":38.03426787500007,"lon":-78.48678079999996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2006-02-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Black","Education","Politics/Government","Historic - Non-Aboriginal"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A large two-story brick school building at 233 Fourth Street NW in Charlottesville, Virginia, built in four sections between 1926 and 1959 for the city's African-American students. It now houses city offices and the Carver Recreation Center.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the school as a long-standing symbol of the Charlottesville African-American community's dedication to educating its children, and as a site tied to school desegregation in the city. It also describes the building as a well-preserved example of how typical public school designs evolved across several decades.","narrative":"Jefferson School and Carver Recreation Center occupy an entire city block at 233 Fourth Street NW in Charlottesville, within the Starr Hill neighborhood. The two-story brick building grew in four stages. Charles Calrow of Norfolk designed the first section in 1926, after community members petitioned for a high school for the city's Black youth. A 1938-39 addition, partly funded by the Public Works Administration, added classrooms, a library and a courtyard. Two late-1950s additions by Baker, Heyward and Llorens added more classrooms and a gymnasium, which also serves the recreation center. An earlier 1894 school on the site was demolished in 1959. The building keeps much of its original woodwork, flooring, windows and floor plan. It matters as a symbol of the Black community's commitment to education and as a place connected to the city's school desegregation in the 1960s. The school later served as a junior high, a sixth-grade center and a swing school, and it still hosts city offices and recreation.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Charles Calrow (1926 section; Calrow, Brown and Fitz-Gibbon of Norfolk); Willard E. Stainback / William E. Stainback and Louis A. Brown, Jr. (1938-39 addition); Baker, Heyward and Llorens Architects (1958 and 1959 additions); Motley Construction Company (contractor, 1926 section)","architectural_style":"Other","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still in use: houses city offices and the Carver Recreation Center, which occupies the upper and lower floors; interior and exterior described as remarkably well preserved with few alterations.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:02.926586-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/7/6801/41680107/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/06000050.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000050/da83256dd9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000050/da83256dd9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Nickmorgan2","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jefferson_School_Charlottesville.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Nickmorgan2</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:Jefferson_School_Charlottesville.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680107","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_School_(Charlottesville,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15229481"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/charlottesville/jefferson-school-carver-recreation-center-and-school-site-06000050/"}