{"nrhp_refnum":"12001270","name":"Lansdowne","other_names":["Retreat Farm","Backus House","Vdhr # 088-5375"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"4919 Lansdowne Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Fredericksburg","county":"Spotsylvania County","state":"VA","lat":38.25460549450003,"lon":-77.47307375368908,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2013-02-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Lansdowne is a one-and-a-half-story wood-framed dwelling at 4919 Lansdowne Road, about a mile south of Fredericksburg in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, on roughly 12 acres. It was built circa 1755, enlarged in the early nineteenth century, and expanded again in 1950.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that Lansdowne is significant under Criterion C for architecture. It is a rare surviving eighteenth-century frame house with an early-nineteenth-century addition, retaining its original room layout, interior trim, doors, flooring and most window sash. The property also has terracing, a road trace and outbuildings, and sits in the Fredericksburg battlefield core area.","narrative":"Lansdowne is a one-and-a-half-story, wood-framed house on a knoll about a mile south of Fredericksburg, Virginia, set on roughly 12 acres beside the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania battlefields park. It was built in three phases: circa 1755, the early nineteenth century, and 1950. The earliest section was a small single-pile building over a brick English basement, and the later expansion doubled its size. Inside, mantels, doors, trim, plaster and floors survive from the earlier periods. The grounds include a circa 1920 bank barn, a circa 1950 springhouse and pumphouse, an old road trace, and a terraced hillside that may predate 1800. The property was listed for architecture because frame houses of the eighteenth century rarely survive, and this one keeps so much original fabric. Its history also includes use as a working farm, and families fleeing Fredericksburg took refuge there during the 1862 battle.","period_of_significance":"Circa 1755-1950","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Mid-18th to Early-19th Century Vernacular","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Continues to serve as a single dwelling with agricultural outbuildings; the springhouse and pumphouse are no longer in use.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:03.449467-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/31/6837/41683731/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/12001270.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/12001270/f9582a0040-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/12001270/f9582a0040-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"JERRYE &amp; ROY KLOTZ, M.D.","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LANSDOWNE,_SPOTSYLVANIA_COUNTY,_VA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">JERRYE &amp;amp; ROY KLOTZ, M.D.</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:LANSDOWNE,_SPOTSYLVANIA_COUNTY,_VA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41683731","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lansdowne_(Fredericksburg,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16893989"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/spotsylvania-county/lansdowne-12001270/"}