{"nrhp_refnum":"09001050","name":"Walker, T.C., House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1 Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Gloucester","county":"Gloucester County","state":"VA","lat":37.41317446100004,"lon":-76.52186333699996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2009-12-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Black","Law","Politics/Government"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story post-Civil War vernacular frame house at 1 Main Street in Gloucester Court House, Gloucester County, Virginia, built around 1880 to the early 1880s by an unknown builder, with a windmill and an archeological site.","why_significant":"The house is tied to Thomas Calhoun Walker, born enslaved in 1862, who became Gloucester County's first African American lawyer. He acquired the house in 1900 and used it as his base for work in education, land ownership, law and politics. The nomination argues significance at the state level under Criterion B in Education, Ethnic Heritage, Law and Politics/Government.","narrative":"This two-story frame house on a hill at the edge of the Gloucester Court House business district was built around 1880 and has no recorded builder. It is a vernacular building with traces of Greek Revival and Gothic Revival styles, three intersecting gables, a central hall plan, and walls now covered in asbestos shingles added around 1955. A steel windmill from the 1920s stands beside it, and an archeological survey found evidence of an 18th-century household on the site. The house matters because of Thomas Calhoun Walker, who acquired it in 1900 and lived there until his death in 1953. Born enslaved in 1862 and educated at Hampton Institute, Walker became the first African American lawyer in Gloucester County. He worked to expand Black land ownership and school construction, served on the county Board of Supervisors, and held federal and state appointments. His daughters inherited the house, and it was donated to Hampton University in 1977. It is now mothballed in poor condition.","period_of_significance":"c.1900-1953","architect_builder":"Unknown","architectural_style":"Gothic Revival","criteria":["B"],"status_note":"Described as in poor condition and mothballed; current function listed as work in progress. The property was donated to Hampton University in 1977.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:02.603858-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/53/6809/41680953/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/09001050.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/09001050/da893b5cf5-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/09001050/da893b5cf5-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Matthew W. King","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gloucester_va_tc_walker_house.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Matthew W. King</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:Gloucester_va_tc_walker_house.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"10001063","name":"Gloucester Downtown Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/gloucester-downtown-historic-district-10001063/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680953","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.C._Walker_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14713283"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/gloucester-county/walker-t-c-house-09001050/"}