{"nrhp_refnum":"79001713","name":"Green Hill Cemetery Gatekeeper's House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"700 Battleground Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Greensboro","county":"Guilford County","state":"NC","lat":36.07975040900004,"lon":-79.79497077599996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-05-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-and-one-half story frame Gothic cottage at 700 Battleground Avenue in Greensboro, Guilford County, North Carolina, built in 1888-1889 as the gatekeeper's house and office for Green Hill Cemetery, the city's first public cemetery.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it the only surviving Gothic Cottage in Greensboro and the last known Victorian cemetery gatekeeper's house in North Carolina. It is tied to Greensboro's late nineteenth-century civic improvements and to Judge David Schenk, who pushed for its construction and chose the Gothic style. Its design resembles plans in A. J. Downing's Cottage Residences (1853).","narrative":"Built in 1888-1889 for Greensboro's first public cemetery, this cross-shaped, one-and-one-half story frame cottage served as both home and office for the Green Hill Cemetery keeper. Judge David Schenk, a leading figure in the city's civic improvements, urged the city to fund it at a cost of no more than $600 and selected the Gothic style. Features include a steep cross-gable roof, sawnwork bargeboards with kingposts, pointed-arch window labels, and a full porch with ogee-arch spandrels. The interior had separate doors to the office and living quarters, with corner fireplaces and molded trim largely intact. The house was moved roughly 500 feet in the early 1890s and was sold by the city in 1978 to owners planning restoration. It was listed as the only surviving Gothic Cottage in Greensboro and the last known Victorian cemetery gatekeeper's house in North Carolina, reflecting the influence of A. J. Downing's pattern books.","period_of_significance":"1888-1889","architect_builder":"Wm. G. W. Jackson (contract bid, per Schenk's diary); design style chosen by Judge David Schenk","architectural_style":"Gothic Cottage (Gothic Revival)","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Described as in excellent condition and altered, with present owners making modest alterations and planning restoration; the form says the cottage was abandoned as a residence in 1961 and the last keeper left in 1975. The form also 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 02:58:58.342621-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/2/7205/47720502/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/79001713.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001713/77cc641c7d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001713/77cc641c7d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"JJaneW","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Green_Hill_Cemetery_Gatekeeper%E2%80%99s_Cottage.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">JJaneW</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:The_Green_Hill_Cemetery_Gatekeeper%E2%80%99s_Cottage.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47720502","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Hill_Cemetery_Gatekeeper%27s_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19462072"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/guilford-county/green-hill-cemetery-gatekeepers-house-79001713/"}