{"nrhp_refnum":"80004313","name":"Folly Castle Historic District","other_names":["West Washington Street Historic District","See Also:Folly Cast"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Perry and W. Washington Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Petersburg (Independent City)","county":"Petersburg","state":"VA","lat":37.226768090000064,"lon":-77.40974354699995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-07-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military","Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-block residential historic district in Petersburg, Virginia, along West Washington Street and Perry Street, with fourteen late 18th- and 19th-century houses and one 19th-century church on about 6 acres.","why_significant":"The district is a compact, relatively unaltered cluster of houses with a unified scale and mass, showing Georgian, Federal, Italianate, Queen Anne and Georgian Revival styles. It represents a typical middle to upper middle-class neighborhood of 19th-century Petersburg. Two houses are tied by local tradition to the Peter Jones, V and Robert Dunn McIlwaine families.","narrative":"This residential district in Petersburg, Virginia, centers on West Washington Street and Perry Street and holds fourteen houses and one church dating from the late 18th and 19th centuries. Most are detached single-family homes of two or two and a half stories, built of brick or frame, and together they form a consistent streetscape in scale and mass. Styles include Georgian, Federal, Italianate, Queen Anne and Georgian Revival. Folly Castle, built in 1763 for Peter Jones, V, got its name from the supposed extravagance of a childless owner building so large a house. The McIlwaine-Friend House, completed in 1858, is an Italianate mansion that served as General George Pickett's headquarters during the Civil War. The Gothic Revival Second Presbyterian Church, from 1861-1862, used its yard as a temporary burying ground for soldiers in 1864-65. The grouping is described as a unique architectural cluster in Petersburg.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Second Presbyterian Church attributed to the Rev. Theodorick Pryor; Folly Castle built by Peter Jones, V","architectural_style":"Georgian, Federal, Italianate, Queen Anne, Gothic Revival, Georgian Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Individual houses are in varying states of disrepair, but no contemporary additions break with the 19th-century fabric.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.560336-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/10/6825/41682510/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/80004313.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004313/9ec48014e3-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004313/9ec48014e3-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FollyCastlePetersburg.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FollyCastlePetersburg.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"92000343","name":"Folly Castle Historic District (Boundary Increase)","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/folly-castle-historic-district-boundary-increase-92000343/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41682510","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folly_Castle_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16837250"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/petersburg/folly-castle-historic-district-80004313/"}