{"nrhp_refnum":"76002107","name":"Burgh Westra","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"E of Gloucester off VA 3","address_restricted":false,"city":"Gloucester","county":"Gloucester County","state":"VA","lat":37.41983566500005,"lon":-76.45351763299993,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-10-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Gothic Revival brick cottage near Ware Neck in Gloucester County, Virginia, on a neck between Elmington and Back Creeks overlooking the North River. It was completed by 1851 for Dr. Philip Alexander Taliaferro.","why_significant":"The house is a close copy of \"Design III\" in Andrew Jackson Downing's Cottage Residences, and the original owner's annotated copy of the book survives with his sketches and notes. This gives rare direct evidence of Downing's influence. The house also served as a hospital during the Civil War, when Dr. Taliaferro treated patients there.","narrative":"Burgh Westra is a brick Gothic Revival cottage at the end of a small neck between Elmington and Back Creeks in Gloucester County, Virginia, looking out over the North River. It was completed by 1851 for Dr. Philip Alexander Taliaferro, a physician from an old county family who had studied medicine in Virginia, Philadelphia and Europe. Taliaferro owned a copy of Andrew Jackson Downing's Cottage Residences, and its flyleaves and margins are filled with his sketches and notes. He chose \"Design III,\" a cottage in the Pointed or Tudor style, and the house follows it closely. Builders substituted brick for ashlar, used square chimney stacks, added corner pilasters and reversed the first-floor plan. The interior is plain, with marble mantels and a stair with scrolled brackets. During the Civil War, Taliaferro received a waiver to practice medicine at home and used the house as a hospital. Family relatives still live there.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Gothic Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Maintained in excellent condition as a permanent residence by relatives of the builder; some outbuildings, such as the frame smokehouse, are much deteriorated.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.660955-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/36/6809/41680936/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/76002107.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76002107/14e45f4df0-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76002107/14e45f4df0-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Gaghee","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sherwood_picture5_enhanced.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Gaghee</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sherwood_picture5_enhanced.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680936","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgh_Westra","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14712107"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/gloucester-county/burgh-westra-76002107/"}