{"nrhp_refnum":"71000284","name":"St. Elmo","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2810 St. Elmo Dr.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Columbus","county":"Muscogee County","state":"GA","lat":32.48929648400008,"lon":-84.96600017999998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1971-04-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Landscape Architecture","Literature","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"St. Elmo is a Greek Revival mansion at 2810 St. Elmo Drive in Columbus, Muscogee County, Georgia, built between 1828 and 1833 by Colonel Seaborn Jones on about 2 acres.","why_significant":"The house is described as one of the most exquisite classic houses in America, a Greek temple for a home, with a forty-foot Doric colonnade. It is also tied to Colonel Jones, General Henry Lewis Benning and the novel St. Elmo by Augusta Jane Evans Wilson, which drew on her visits to the house.","narrative":"St. Elmo is a Greek Revival mansion in Columbus, Georgia, begun in 1828 and finished in 1833 by Colonel Seaborn Jones, a lawyer who served three terms in Congress. Twelve Doric columns, forty feet high, run across the front and around two sides, topped by a balustrade. Walls eighteen inches thick were built of handmade brick that enslaved workers dug, molded and dried on the property. Inside, a central hall twelve feet wide separates large rooms, and a winding staircase joins the upper floors. A brick outbuilding with a dove-cote above and a smokehouse below survives behind the house. Originally called Eldorado, the house took the name St. Elmo in 1875, after the novel by Augusta Jane Evans Wilson, Jones's wife's niece, who drew on visits to the home. Jones's daughter Mary married Henry Lewis Benning, for whom Fort Benning was named. The house later served as a girls school and was opened to the public in 1933.","period_of_significance":"19th century; built 1828-1833","architect_builder":"Colonel Seaborn Jones (builder)","architectural_style":"Greek Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in good condition, occupied and used as a private residence; the form notes some alterations and that the original site is unmoved.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:41.522699-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/71000284.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000284/f58c2fdbc9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000284/f58c2fdbc9-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Branan Sanders, Photographer","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Elmo,_2810_Saint_Elmo_Drive,_Columbus_(Muscogee_County,_Georgia).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Branan Sanders, Photographer</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Elmo,_2810_Saint_Elmo_Drive,_Columbus_(Muscogee_County,_Georgia).jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"94000665","name":"Weracoba-St. Elmo Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/georgia/weracoba-st-elmo-historic-district-94000665/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93209142","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Elmo_(Columbus,_Georgia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7587868"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/muscogee-county/st-elmo-71000284/"}