{"nrhp_refnum":"77000995","name":"Zealandia","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"40 Vance Gap Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Asheville","county":"Buncombe County","state":"NC","lat":35.59709591050006,"lon":-82.53843798710045,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1977-03-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Zealandia is a Tudor-style granite mansion with a Tudor-style carriage house on Beaucatcher Mountain in Asheville, North Carolina. The present house was built 1908-1920 by Philip S. Henry as an addition to an 1889 house built for John Evans Brown.","why_significant":"The nomination presents Zealandia as one of Asheville's best-known landmarks and as a fine early twentieth century adaptation of Tudor and Elizabethan design. Philip S. Henry, a diplomat, scholar and art patron, used the estate to house his art collection, which formed Asheville's first art museum, open to the public from 1924. The site also carries the story of John Evans Brown, who named it after New Zealand.","narrative":"Zealandia is a granite mansion in the Tudor and Elizabethan manner, set high on Beaucatcher Mountain above Asheville. John Evans Brown, who had spent years in New Zealand, built the first house on the site in 1889 and gave the estate its name. Philip S. Henry, a diplomat, scholar and businessman, bought the property in 1904 and added a large wing between 1908 and 1920, using blue granite quarried on the mountain. The house has steep gables, half-timbered upper walls, leaded diamond-pane windows, a three-story porte cochere and richly detailed oak-paneled interiors. A Tudor-style carriage house with oak stalls stands on the estate. Henry's art collection was shown at the house from 1924 and later in a separate museum, Asheville's first. In the 1950s the Brown portion and some later rooms were demolished, leaving 28 rooms. The museum building was demolished in 1976. The estate is valued as a local landmark.","period_of_significance":"1908-1920","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Tudor, blending Elizabethan and Tudor Gothic styles","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as excellent and altered; the original Brown portion was razed in the 1950s, reducing the house to 28 rooms. The separate museum building was razed in 1976. The form marks the property as unoccupied.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:56.721319-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/71/7191/47719171/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/77000995.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77000995/111999155a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77000995/111999155a-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Upstateherd","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zealandia_-_Asheville,_NC.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Upstateherd</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:Zealandia_-_Asheville,_NC.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719171","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zealandia_(Asheville,_North_Carolina)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18159361"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/buncombe-county/zealandia-77000995/"}