{"nrhp_refnum":"80004166","name":"Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary","other_names":["Virginia Theological Seminary"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"3737 Seminary Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Alexandria (Independent City)","county":"Alexandria","state":"VA","lat":38.820254969000075,"lon":-77.09203416399998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-11-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 3.5-acre portion of the Virginia Theological Seminary campus on Seminary Hill in Alexandria, Virginia, containing the seminary's oldest buildings dating from 1855 to 1881, plus two faculty residences from the 1827 land purchase.","why_significant":"The seminary is described as one of the oldest and most distinguished institutions for educating Episcopal priests in America. Its early buildings are works of architects Norris G. Starkweather, J. W. Johns and Charles E. Cassell. The grounds are cited as the only documented work in Virginia of landscape designer A.J. Downing.","narrative":"Virginia Theological Seminary occupies a hilltop campus in Alexandria overlooking the Potomac River. The nominated 3.5 acres hold its oldest academic buildings: Key Hall (1855, the former library, Gothic Revival, designed by J. W. Johns), Aspinwall Hall (1858, with Norman and Italianate influences), the flanking Bohlen and Meade Halls (1859 and 1860), and Immanuel Chapel (1881, Ruskinian Gothic, by Baltimore architect Charles E. Cassell). Aspinwall Hall and its wings are attributed to Norris G. Starkweather. Two faculty houses, Maywood and Oakwood, predate the seminary's 1827 land purchase. The seminary began in 1823 and is considered among the oldest and most distinguished institutions training Episcopal clergy. Graduates included Phillips Brooks, later Bishop of Massachusetts. The informally landscaped grounds are credited to A.J. Downing, the only documented example of his work in Virginia, and the intact brick complex preserves a nineteenth-century character.","period_of_significance":"19th Century","architect_builder":"Charles E. Cassell; J. W. Johns; Norris G. Starkweather","architectural_style":"Gothic Revival, Ruskinian Gothic Revival, Italianate and Norman influences, Federal","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as excellent/good; the campus remains an occupied, working seminary with well-landscaped grounds.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.485193-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/42/6794/41679442/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/80004166.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004166/7718cf6b24-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004166/7718cf6b24-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.5","author":"John W. Cross","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Virginia_Theological_Seminary_Alexandria,_VA.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">John W. Cross</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.5</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Virginia_Theological_Seminary_Alexandria,_VA.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41679442","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Theological_Seminary","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7934628"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/alexandria/protestant-episcopal-theological-seminary-80004166/"}