{"nrhp_refnum":"73002204","name":"Oak Lawn","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Cherry Ave. and 9th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Charlottesville (Independent City)","county":"Charlottesville","state":"VA","lat":38.02818429900003,"lon":-78.49599950499999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-05-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Oak Lawn is a two-story brick dwelling with flanking one-story wings at Cherry Avenue and Ninth Street in Charlottesville, Virginia, built in 1822 for Col. Nimrod Bramham.","why_significant":"The house is a notable example of Jeffersonian Classicism, with the Randolph-Semple House in Williamsburg as its design prototype. It is believed to have been built by workmen employed by Thomas Jefferson at the University of Virginia, and later documentation attributes its design to James Dinsmore. It is also the earliest historic resource in the Fifeville-Castle Hill area and is tied to the Fife family, for whom the neighborhood is named.","narrative":"Oak Lawn is a brick house of 1822 on a hill at Cherry Avenue and Ninth Street in Charlottesville. Its two-story central block has a pedimented gable front and a one-story Tuscan-columned portico, and it is flanked by one-story, two-bay wings. The walls are laid in Flemish bond, and every room has a fireplace. The design follows the Randolph-Semple House in Williamsburg and reflects the Jeffersonian Classicism of the period. Workmen who had labored for Thomas Jefferson at the University of Virginia are believed to have built it, and later research credits James Dinsmore, a Scots-Irish carpenter, with the design. Col. Nimrod Bramham had the house built. In 1847 James Fife, a Baptist minister, farmer and businessman, bought the property and renamed it Oak Lawn. Fife's name came to identify the surrounding neighborhood. About five acres remain, with the house, a brick cook's house and two family cemeteries, and the grounds still feel rural despite the surrounding city.","period_of_significance":"19th century","architect_builder":"James Dinsmore (believed designer and builder); built by workmen who worked for Thomas Jefferson at the University of Virginia","architectural_style":"Jeffersonian Classicism / Jeffersonian Palladianism","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as structurally sound but in need of some repair in the original form; a private residence, occupied.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.87248-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/89/6800/41680089/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/73002204.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73002204/f99836480b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73002204/f99836480b-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oak_Lawn_in_Charlottesville,_through_trees.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oak_Lawn_in_Charlottesville,_through_trees.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680089","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_Lawn_(Charlottesville,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15263197"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/charlottesville/oak-lawn-73002204/"}