{"nrhp_refnum":"76002224","name":"Spencer, Anne, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1313 Pierce St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lynchburg (Independent City)","county":"Lynchburg","state":"VA","lat":37.40388111100003,"lon":-79.15192546999998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-12-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Literature","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A medium-sized, modified Queen Anne-style dwelling at 1313 Pierce Street in Lynchburg, Virginia, with a rear garden and a one-room garden cottage. It was occupied from 1903 by poet Anne Spencer and largely built by her husband, Edward Spencer.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is significant as the home of Anne Spencer (1881-1975), a lyric poet, cultural leader and humanitarian. It was a gathering place for prominent Black writers, musicians and civil rights leaders. The house, garden and study survive almost unchanged, with furnishings and mementoes left as she had them.","narrative":"Anne Spencer's home at 1313 Pierce Street in Lynchburg, Virginia, is a modest Queen Anne-style house with shingled walls, a hipped metal roof, a long porch and a pergola with a checkered floor. Behind it lies a narrow garden she laid out, with a goldfish pond and a small shingled cottage, called Edankraal, where she wrote. Her husband, Edward Spencer, built most of the house and the cottage, and the couple moved in during 1903. Anne Spencer lived there until her death in 1975. A lyric poet whose work appeared in major anthologies, she was also a librarian at Dunbar High School. At a time when Black travelers had few public accommodations in the South, the house welcomed visitors such as James Weldon Johnson, Langston Hughes, W.E.B. DuBois and George Washington Carver. Its furnishings, books and mementoes remain as she left them, giving the house and study unusual value as a literary site.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Largely built by Edward Spencer","architectural_style":"Modified Queen Anne","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as well maintained and in good condition, and virtually unchanged since Mrs. Spencer's occupancy; the garden has been neglected since her death and the garage has been demolished.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.601197-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/27/6818/41681827/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/76002224.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76002224/95516e7900-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76002224/95516e7900-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Pubdog (talk)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spencer_House_Lynchburg_Nov_08.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Pubdog (talk)</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spencer_House_Lynchburg_Nov_08.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41681827","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Spencer_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4768813"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/lynchburg/spencer-anne-house-76002224/"}