{"nrhp_refnum":"69000267","name":"Barboursville","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"S of jct. of Rtes. 777 and 678","address_restricted":false,"city":"Barboursville","county":"Orange County","state":"VA","lat":38.162507102000035,"lon":-78.2818794168671,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1969-11-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Barboursville is the ruined brick mansion of James Barbour near Barboursville in Orange County, Virginia, completed circa 1822 from designs by Thomas Jefferson. It burned on Christmas Day 1884, and the nominated 558 acres also include earlier service buildings and gardens.","why_significant":"The house was designed by Thomas Jefferson and came closer to Monticello in character than any of his other works. Enough walls survive to compare against Jefferson's drawings. It was also the home of James Barbour, a Virginia governor, U.S. Senator, Secretary of War and Minister to England.","narrative":"Barboursville in Orange County, Virginia, preserves the ruins of a mansion built for James Barbour around 1822 from designs supplied by Thomas Jefferson. Fire destroyed the house on Christmas Day 1884, leaving the exterior brick walls, interior masonry partitions and portico columns. The house had a Roman Doric portico on the entrance front and an octagonal drawing room projecting on the garden front, echoing Monticello. Jefferson's proposed octagonal dome was omitted during construction. Two service buildings to the north, believed to date from about 1790, now serve as the main residence, and the grounds are known for large boxwood and a partly surviving serpentine garden wall. The property matters for its link to Jefferson, whose surviving drawings can be compared with the standing walls, and for Barbour, who served as Virginia governor, U.S. Senator, Secretary of War and Minister to England, and who is credited with founding the Literary Fund of Virginia.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Designed by Thomas Jefferson; built by carpenter James Bradley and bricklayer Edward Ancel (?), employed by James Barbour","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"The main house is a ruin, overgrown with vines but maintained and generally sound. Two service buildings to the north serve as the main residence.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.774097-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/86/6823/41682386/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/69000267.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/69000267/4570f0ed6c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/69000267/4570f0ed6c-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":null,"credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Barboursville_ruins.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Unknown author</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Barboursville_ruins.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41682386","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barboursville_(James_Barbour)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4859734"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/orange-county/barboursville-69000267/"}