{"nrhp_refnum":"06000706","name":"Edgewood","other_names":["VDHR File# 163-0003"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"138 Garland Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Amherst","county":"Amherst County","state":"VA","lat":37.583762328000034,"lon":-79.05539869999996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2006-08-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Edgewood is a brick two-story house on an English basement at 138 Garland Avenue in Amherst, Virginia, begun about 1818 by attorney and county court clerk Arthur B. Davies. It sits on about 5.6 acres at the corner of Main and Garland streets.","why_significant":"The nomination argues significance under Criterion C for architecture. It is a Federal/Greek Revival house, one of the oldest and largest in the town, with a distinctive T-shaped plan. It retains original woodwork and mantels and has early-nineteenth-century Chinese- and Indian-inspired wall murals unlike any other known decoration in the town or county.","narrative":"Edgewood is a two-story brick house over an English basement in the town of Amherst, Virginia. Arthur B. Davies, a local attorney and clerk of the county court, began building it around 1818. Its seven-bay west front has a pedimented two-story wooden portico, and the walls are laid in Flemish bond on the main facade. The plan is T-shaped, and the house keeps most of its original woodwork and mantels. The east parlor holds three hand-painted murals of Chinese- and Indian-inspired scenes, apparently by an unknown itinerant painter and later covered by wallpaper until the 1970s. Davies spent so heavily on the house that it was nicknamed \"Arthur's Folly.\" In the mid-1800s it served as the home of the Higginbotham Academy, and later as a meeting place for a Masonic lodge and a Methodist congregation. Additions were made around 1900, in the 1940s or 1950s, and in 1972. Its architecture, size and murals led to its listing for architectural significance. It remains a private residence.","period_of_significance":"1818-1956","architect_builder":"Arthur B. Davies","architectural_style":"Federal/Greek Revival","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Currently used as a single dwelling; historically also used as a school, meeting hall and religious facility.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:02.481762-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/25/6795/41679525/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/06000706.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000706/1dc0e21f88-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000706/1dc0e21f88-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Pubdog (talk)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edgewood_1818_Dec_08.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Pubdog (talk)</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edgewood_1818_Dec_08.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41679525","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgewood,_1818_(Amherst,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5337855"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/amherst-county/edgewood-06000706/"}