{"nrhp_refnum":"78000996","name":"Spencer, William Henry, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"745 4th Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Columbus","county":"Muscogee County","state":"GA","lat":32.46052371700006,"lon":-84.98824138899994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-05-23","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story frame house at 745 4th Avenue, at the corner of 8th Street, in Columbus, Muscogee County, Georgia. It was built in 1912 by the Dudley Lumber Company for educator William Henry Spencer.","why_significant":"The house is presented as a good example of early 20th century Classical Revivalism that has no exact duplicate in Columbus. It was built for William H. Spencer, a leading black educator and school supervisor and principal, at a time when many black people did not own their homes. It reflects his family life and standing in the community.","narrative":"Completed in the fall of 1912, this two-story weatherboarded frame house sits on the southwest corner of 8th Street and 4th Avenue in Columbus, Georgia. William Henry Spencer, a respected black educator who served as school supervisor and principal, had the Dudley Lumber Company build it for his family. Rather than an architect's design, it came from a local lumber and contracting firm. The house has a cube-like main block, a truncated pyramid roof, a full-length front porch with Corinthian columns, and three red brick chimneys. Inside are pilastered mantels, pocket doors, geometric hardwood floors and five upstairs bedrooms, one for each child. Its significance rests on its Classical Revival character and on what it says about Spencer's standing, since many black residents then did not own their homes. Spencer was born in Columbus in 1857 and died in 1925, and a high school bears his name. His widow willed the property to the school board for educational and memorial purposes.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":"Dudley Lumber Co., Columbus","architectural_style":"Classical Revivalism (Classical Revival)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as vacant and owned by the Muscogee County School District; essentially unchanged from 1912 apart from the 1930s enclosure of the southwest corner of the front porch.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:40.702387-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/78000996.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"88002048","name":"Columbus Historic District (Boundary Increase)","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/georgia/columbus-historic-district-boundary-increase-88002048/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93209138","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q134399434"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/muscogee-county/spencer-william-henry-house-78000996/"}