{"nrhp_refnum":"73000636","name":"Orna Villa","other_names":["The Alexander Means House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1008 N. Emory St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Oxford","county":"Newton County","state":"GA","lat":33.62356137100005,"lon":-83.86719666499994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-01-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Orna Villa, also called the Alexander Means House, is a two-story weatherboarded Greek Revival house at 1008 North Emory Street in Oxford, Newton County, Georgia. It was built in stages from the 1820s to the 1850s on a one-story house that predates 1820.","why_significant":"The house is tied to Dr. Alexander Means, a Methodist minister, physician, professor and founder and president of Emory College, and to the early history of Oxford and the college. It is also an example of Greek Revival architecture built and renovated in several stages. It is said to be the oldest house in Oxford.","narrative":"Orna Villa is a two-story weatherboarded house on North Emory Street in Oxford, Georgia, near the old Emory College campus. It began as a one-story plantation house built before 1820 by Virginian Richard K. Dearing. Around 1821-22 it was acquired by Dr. Alexander Means, a Methodist minister, physician, professor and founder and later president of Emory College. Means enlarged it into a two-story house, and a Greek portico with Doric columns and pedimented door and window framing was probably added in the 1850s, when several Emory buildings were built in a similar style. The exact dates of the renovations remain uncertain. Means is credited with exhibiting an incandescent electric light in 1857, and he named the house for the many birds found there. Said to be the oldest house in Oxford, it served as a dormitory for college students. It is listed for its Greek Revival architecture and its link to Means and the early town and college.","period_of_significance":"19th Century (c. 1820)","architect_builder":"Richard K. Dearing (built original one-story house before 1820); Dr. Alexander Means (renovated); designer of the later work unknown","architectural_style":"Greek Revival; plantation plain with Greek details","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as excellent and altered, on its original site; occupied and used as a private residence.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:41.473466-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/73000636.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000636/ef0d25d00e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000636/ef0d25d00e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Haha169","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Orna_Villa.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Haha169</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Orna_Villa.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"75000603","name":"Oxford Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/georgia/oxford-historic-district-75000603/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93209182","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orna_Villa","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7103505"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/newton-county/orna-villa-73000636/"}