{"nrhp_refnum":"08000026","name":"Old Town Historic District","other_names":["Vdhr#115-5001"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by Cantrell Ave., Ott, Water & S. Main Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Harrisonburg (Independent City)","county":"Harrisonburg","state":"VA","lat":38.44560173250005,"lon":-78.86694083162928,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2008-02-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Transportation"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A medium-density, mostly residential historic district in Harrisonburg, Virginia, just west of Interstate 81, bounded roughly by Water Street, Ott Street, Cantrell Avenue and South Main Street. Contributing buildings date from 1850 to 1957.","why_significant":"The district is described as an important collection of late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century residential architecture. It shows the shift from highly decorated Queen Anne houses to simpler Modern Movement forms. It also reflects regional use of locally quarried limestone and brick, and the neighborhood's growth through street openings and subdivisions from about 1899 to the 1930s.","narrative":"Old Town is a medium-density residential neighborhood in the heart of Harrisonburg, Virginia, just west of Interstate 81. Its streets, centered on Franklin Street and South Mason Street, hold houses built between 1850 and 1957 in Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Spanish Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, Craftsman, American Four Square and other styles. Locally quarried limestone, weatherboard and brick are the dominant materials, and a large limestone wall built by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s closes the east end of Campbell Street. The district was listed because it preserves a varied collection of architecture showing how building forms changed in the early twentieth century, along with the street pattern created by additions such as Bucher and Steigel and A. M. Newman. Campbell Street recalls the Campbell Female Seminary, run from 1877 to 1892. Some streets now hold student rentals, offices and apartments.","period_of_significance":"1850-1957","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late Victorian (Italianate, Queen Anne); Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals (Colonial, Spanish Colonial, Tudor); Bungalow/Craftsman; Modern Movement (Bauhaus, Moderne)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still in use as a neighborhood of single-family and multiple dwellings and some commerce; many houses near James Madison University now serve as student rentals, and Newman Avenue has shifted to mixed use.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:02.416095-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/16/6812/41681216/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/08000026.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000026/0255db34b5-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000026/0255db34b5-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Jerrye &amp; Roy Klotz, MD","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:OLD_TOWN_HISTORIC_DISTRICT,_HARRISONBURG,_VIRGINIA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jerrye &amp;amp; Roy Klotz, MD</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:OLD_TOWN_HISTORIC_DISTRICT,_HARRISONBURG,_VIRGINIA.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"04001536","name":"Harrisonburg Downtown Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/harrisonburg-downtown-historic-district-04001536/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41681216","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Town_Historic_District_(Harrisonburg,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7085291"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/harrisonburg/old-town-historic-district-08000026/"}