{"nrhp_refnum":"76002109","name":"Rokeby","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2.4 mi. SW of Leesburg off VA 650","address_restricted":false,"city":"Leesburg","county":"Loudoun County","state":"VA","lat":39.07170793000006,"lon":-77.59453271927613,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-05-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military","Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Rokeby is a large brick house on about fifty acres of rolling farmland 2.4 miles southwest of Leesburg, Loudoun County, Virginia. The original two-story section was probably built in the 1760s by Charles Binns, Sr., and was later enlarged.","why_significant":"The nomination calls Rokeby Loudoun County's most distinguished example of mid-eighteenth-century Georgian architecture. It is also reputed to be one of the places where U.S. Government documents, including the Declaration of Independence, were hidden when the British occupied Washington in 1814. The barrel-vaulted cellar vault is believed to be where the papers were kept.","narrative":"Rokeby is a large brick country house set in the rolling farmland south of Leesburg, Loudoun County. The original two-story, five-bay section was probably built in the 1760s by Charles Binns, Sr., the county's first Circuit Court clerk, and is laid entirely in Flemish bond. Later owners changed it considerably: Benjamin Shreve, Jr., remodeled the roofline and trim in 1836, a rear brick wing was added in 1886, and architect Washington Reed, Jr., directed a remodeling in 1959. Early features survive, including a barrel-vaulted cellar vault and an old cellar kitchen. The house is regarded as Loudoun County's most distinguished example of mid-eighteenth-century Georgian architecture. It is also reputed to have sheltered U.S. Government papers, including the Declaration of Independence, during the British occupation of Washington in 1814, with the cellar vault believed to be the hiding place. About fifty acres of the original 160-acre tract remain with the house.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Charles Binns, Sr. (probable original builder); Washington Reed, Jr., architect of the 1959 remodeling","architectural_style":"Georgian, with Greek Revival elements","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in excellent condition and used as a private residence; remodeled in 1959.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:56.865498-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/27/6816/41681627/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/76002109.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76002109/b3aaa95638-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76002109/b3aaa95638-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Cecouchman","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BuildingOnRokebyProperty.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Cecouchman</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:BuildingOnRokebyProperty.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41681627","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rokeby_(Leesburg,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7359981"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/loudoun-county/rokeby-76002109/"}