{"nrhp_refnum":"74002234","name":"Violet Bank","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Royal Oak Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Colonial Heights (Independent City)","county":"Colonial Heights","state":"VA","lat":37.24182392700004,"lon":-77.40503812799994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-07-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Violet Bank is a one-story frame Federal-style plantation house on the heights above the Appomattox River, across from Petersburg, in Colonial Heights, Virginia. The present house was erected in 1815 after an earlier house on the site burned in 1810.","why_significant":"The nomination cites the house's fine Adamesque plaster ornamentation and its octagonal-ended bays, a feature linked to designs by Benjamin Henry Latrobe and found in several important Virginia houses. It also served as General Robert E. Lee's headquarters from June to November 1864. Its front yard holds a cucumber tree believed to be the largest known of its species in the country.","narrative":"Violet Bank is a one-story frame Federal-style house on a ridge above the Appomattox River, facing Petersburg from the Colonial Heights side. Built in 1815 after an earlier house burned in 1810, it was the home of Thomas Shore, who had acquired the land in 1777. A tetrastyle portico with reeded Doric columns shelters the entrance, and three-part bays with octagonal ends frame the front. Inside, the south and north rooms carry some of the finest Adam-style plaster cornices, friezes and ceiling medallions in Virginia. Shore met the architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe in 1796, and the nomination suggests he may have drawn on Latrobe's ideas for the bays. The house later served as General Robert E. Lee's headquarters from June to November 1864, where he learned of the explosion at the Crater. A very large cucumber tree stands in the front yard. Today the first floor is a museum and the basement a public library.","period_of_significance":"19th Century (specific date 1815)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Federal","criteria":[],"status_note":"Excellent condition and unaltered apart from the removal of the rear wing; the first floor is a small museum of local and Civil War history and the basement serves as a public library.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.816584-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/67/6802/41680267/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/74002234.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74002234/030c8f3f1e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74002234/030c8f3f1e-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Corvokarasu at en.wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Colonial_Hgts4.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Corvokarasu at en.wikipedia</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Colonial_Hgts4.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"15000679","name":"Violet Bank Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/violet-bank-historic-district-15000679/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680267","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violet_Bank_Museum","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q23138857"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/colonial-heights/violet-bank-74002234/"}