{"nrhp_refnum":"72001527","name":"Stewart-Lee House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"707 E. Franklin St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Richmond (Independent City)","county":"Richmond (city and county)","state":"VA","lat":37.53991264500007,"lon":-77.43688040099994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-05-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military","Education","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story Greek Revival brick town house at 707 East Franklin Street in Richmond, Virginia, built in 1844 for tobacco merchant Norman Stewart as one of five houses on 'Stewart's row'.","why_significant":"It is the last domestic survivor of one of Richmond's finest residential blocks and a well-preserved example of the three-story Greek Revival town house popular in the mid 1840s. It has been preserved mainly because General Robert E. Lee's family lived here in 1864-1865 and Lee retired here after Appomattox. It later served the Virginia Historical Society as a library and assembly rooms.","narrative":"Built in 1844 for Scottish-born tobacco merchant Norman Stewart, this three-story brick town house at 707 East Franklin Street in Richmond is the only surviving home from a row of five he built between 1844 and 1849. It is a well-preserved example of the tall, narrow, side-hall Greek Revival town house popular in Richmond in the mid 1840s, with a Doric portico, stone lintels, and a cast iron fence. It is mainly remembered for its Civil War connection. Robert E. Lee's wife and daughters lived here from 1864, and Lee himself retired to the house after the surrender at Appomattox in April 1865. Matthew Brady photographed him here. In 1893 the Stewart heirs gave the house to the Virginia Historical Society, which used it as a library and assembly rooms until 1959 and added a fireproof annex in 1933. The Confederate Memorial Literary Society acquired it in 1961.","period_of_significance":"19th Century (specific date 1844)","architect_builder":"Norman Stewart (builder/owner); N. E. Ancarrow strengthened floors in 1897","architectural_style":"Greek Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as in good condition, altered, on its original site, occupied, and used as a museum; a 1933 fireproof annex is attached.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.447664-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/51/6830/41683051/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/72001527.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72001527/1f110a905f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72001527/1f110a905f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Morgan Riley","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stewart-Lee_House_Richmond_VA.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Morgan Riley</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stewart-Lee_House_Richmond_VA.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"05000527","name":"Main Street Banking Historic District (Additional Documentation)","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/main-street-banking-historic-district-additional-documentation-05000527/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41683051","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stewart%E2%80%93Lee_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16900719"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/richmond/stewart-lee-house-72001527/"}