{"nrhp_refnum":"79003298","name":"Hilltop","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Mary Baldwin College campus","address_restricted":false,"city":"Staunton (Independent City)","county":"Staunton","state":"VA","lat":38.15185168800008,"lon":-79.07124681099998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-06-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Law"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Hilltop is a 2-story, 5-bay neoclassical brick house with a stucco covering, set on a raised basement on the Mary Baldwin College campus in Staunton, Virginia. It was built about 1810-1820 by an unknown builder and is the oldest building on the campus.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that Hilltop is the oldest building on the Mary Baldwin College campus and was once one of Staunton's most elegant residences. It is also tied to prominent legal figures who owned it and to a continuing tradition of educational use, including schools and a law school conducted in the house, before the college acquired it in 1872.","narrative":"Hilltop is a two-story, five-bay neoclassical house on a sharply sloping lot on the Mary Baldwin College campus in Staunton. Built of brick, now covered with yellow-painted stucco, it is dominated by a two-story hexastyle portico with massive Tuscan columns and an elaborate entrance with a fanlight and reeded pilasters. Deed and tax records suggest it was built before 1816 and certainly by 1820, making it the oldest building on the campus. The house was owned by several prominent legal figures, including Archibald Stuart's successors Richard Henry Lee, Major Daniel Sheffey and Judge Lucas P. Thompson, who ran a law school from his home. An earlier tenant kept a school there. In 1872 the property was bought by the co-principals of the adjacent Augusta Female Seminary, later Mary Baldwin College. A large rear wing by T. J. Collins & Son was added in 1904, and the building now serves as a dormitory with many original mantels and panelled openings surviving.","period_of_significance":"c. 1810-1820","architect_builder":"Unknown (original builder; deeds refer to a brick house built by Benjamin H. Brady). The 1904 rear wing was designed by local architects T. J. Collins & Son.","architectural_style":"Neo-classical (Neoclassical)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Rated in good condition and used as a student dormitory with a student lounge; some mantels, chair rails and trim have been removed, and the exterior brick is now covered in stucco.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:58.173462-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/33/6838/41683833/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/79003298.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79003298/005227d714-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79003298/005227d714-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hilltop,_portico_view,_Mary_Baldwin.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hilltop,_portico_view,_Mary_Baldwin.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"84003604","name":"Stuart Addition Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/stuart-addition-historic-district-84003604/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41683833","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilltop_(Staunton,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5764067"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/staunton/hilltop-79003298/"}