{"nrhp_refnum":"80004228","name":"Melville","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"E of Surry","address_restricted":false,"city":"Surry","county":"Surry County","state":"VA","lat":37.14197569800007,"lon":-76.78962430989691,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-05-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Melville is a story-and-a-half brick house on a flat, open 20-acre farm tract near Surry Court House in Surry County, Virginia, probably built in the second quarter of the eighteenth century by the Faulcon family.","why_significant":"The nomination presents Melville as one of the earliest and most interesting surviving houses in Surry County. It is a typical example of the vernacular houses of prosperous colonial Virginia planters, noted for its brickwork with gable-end chevrons and clipped gables. It is also tied to the Faulcon family, prominent in local politics and as Clerks of the Surry County Court.","narrative":"Melville is a story-and-a-half brick house on a flat, open farm tract near Surry Court House in Surry County, Virginia. It was probably built in the second quarter of the eighteenth century by the Faulcon family, who held land in the area once called Troopers. The three-bay house has clipped gables and tall interior end chimneys. Its brickwork is English bond below the water table and Flemish bond with glazed headers above, and the gables carry glazed chevron patterns. Early nineteenth-century sash, mantels, dormers and a modillion cornice add later detail. The interior follows a hall-and-parlor plan, with a lean-to at the rear. Nicholas Faulcon's family was prominent in county affairs, and Jacob and John Faulcon served in turn as Clerk of the Surry County Court from 1781 to 1829. Despite its modest size, the house shows the careful proportions and brick construction that set prosperous planters' homes apart from those of poorer residents. A smokehouse and a barn also stand within the 20 acres.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Colonial Virginia vernacular architecture (hall-and-parlor plan, with early nineteenth-century detailing)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied private residence with agricultural use; the 20 nominated acres are farmed. Two outbuildings remain, a nineteenth-century smokehouse and a twentieth-century barn.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:56.872576-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/15/6839/41683915/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/80004228.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004228/8419d78cdf-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004228/8419d78cdf-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Nat Webb","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Melville_(Surry,_Virginia).JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Nat Webb</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:Melville_(Surry,_Virginia).JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41683915","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melville_(Surry,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15252968"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/surry-county/melville-80004228/"}