{"nrhp_refnum":"76002089","name":"Blenheim","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"S of Charlottesville on VA 727","address_restricted":false,"city":"Blenheim","county":"Albemarle County","state":"VA","lat":37.92969201450006,"lon":-78.49163594722651,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-05-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Historic - Non-Aboriginal","Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Blenheim is a plantation complex in the rural hills of Albemarle County, Virginia, south of Charlottesville. It was built in 1846 and consists of a long story-and-a-half frame house with several early outbuildings, on a knoll near the site of an eighteenth-century Carter house.","why_significant":"The nomination cites the property's link to the Carter family, important colonial landholders, and to Andrew Stevenson, a congressman, Speaker of the House and diplomat who built the present complex. The house is described as an unusual example of combined Greek and Gothic Revival styles. It also has a group of architecturally distinguished outbuildings.","narrative":"Blenheim is a plantation complex set among the rolling hills of southern Albemarle County, Virginia. The present buildings date from 1846 and sit on a knoll near the archaeological remains of an earlier house built by Edward Carter. The main house is a long, narrow, six-bay, story-and-a-half frame building, 92 feet in length, combining Gothic Revival pointed windows with Greek Revival porches and mantels inspired by Asher Benjamin. Around it stand varied outbuildings, including a square Greek Revival structure called the Athenaeum, a kitchen, a former schoolhouse known as the chapel, smokehouses and a cottage tradition links to Chief Justice Roger B. Taney. The land was first patented by John Carter in 1730. Andrew Stevenson, a Speaker of the House, minister to Britain and later Rector of the University of Virginia, bought the estate in 1846 and built the complex. Its Carter connections, Stevenson's career and the architecture of the house and outbuildings supported its listing.","period_of_significance":"1846","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Combined Gothic Revival and Greek Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as occupied, privately owned, in excellent condition and altered; used as a private residence and agriculture. A later 2008 update lists a mix of contributing and non-contributing outbuildings.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.617962-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/49/6792/41679249/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/76002089.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76002089/2189f7ba8b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76002089/2189f7ba8b-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blenheim_farmhouse.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blenheim_farmhouse.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"07001236","name":"Southern Albemarle Rural Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/southern-albemarle-rural-historic-district-07001236/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41679249","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blenheim_(Blenheim,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14712040"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/albemarle-county/blenheim-76002089/"}