{"nrhp_refnum":"07001134","name":"Preston Court Apartments","other_names":["104-0239"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1600 Grady Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Charlottesville (Independent City)","county":"Charlottesville","state":"VA","lat":38.04140515100005,"lon":-78.49906976699998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2007-10-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story, C-shaped, brick-faced reinforced concrete apartment building at 1600 Grady Avenue in Charlottesville, Virginia, built in 1928 to a design by Stanislaw Makielski for the Frank E. Hartman Company.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is an exceptionally well-preserved Classical Revival garden-style apartment building and the largest of its era in the city. It also reflects changing demand for upscale, healthy housing in the 1920s, with single-family-house features such as multiple entrances, porches and a landscaped courtyard.","narrative":"Preston Court Apartments, at 1600 Grady Avenue in Charlottesville, is a three-story, C-shaped apartment building completed in 1928 and opened in 1929. University of Virginia architecture professor Stanislaw Makielski designed it for the Frank E. Hartman Company, which also built it. Cast-in-place reinforced concrete construction, advertised as fireproof, is faced with Flemish-bond brick and cast stone detailing. Two-story Ionic porticos mark four separate entrances, and balconies and a landscaped rear courtyard give it the feel of individual homes. It was the largest apartment building of its era in the city, with thirty-five units. Early tenants included doctors, lawyers, architects, professors and city officials, while basement units went mainly to students. The building is significant for its Classical Revival design and as a well-preserved garden-style apartment house that answered growing housing demand after World War I. Its period of significance runs from 1928 to 1957, and it remains rental housing under the same family. It also contributes to the Rugby Road-University Corner Historic District.","period_of_significance":"1928-1957","architect_builder":"Stanislaw Makielski- architect; Frank E. Hartman Co.- builders","architectural_style":"Late-19th and 20th-century Revivals: Classical Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still used as rental apartments and has remained in the Hartman family; described as remarkably well preserved with modest interior upgrades.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:03.084868-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/11/6801/41680111/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/07001134.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07001134/e946aadf47-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07001134/e946aadf47-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Nickmorgan2","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Preston_Court.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:Preston_Court.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"84003523","name":"Rugby Road-University Corner Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/rugby-road-university-corner-historic-district-84003523/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680111","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_Court_Apartments","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15268554"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/charlottesville/preston-court-apartments-07001134/"}