{"nrhp_refnum":"84003564","name":"Longwood House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Johnson Dr.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Farmville","county":"Prince Edward County","state":"VA","lat":37.29187694800004,"lon":-78.37961744299997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-03-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Longwood House is a 2 1/2-story wood-frame, double-pile Federal and Greek Revival residence just outside Farmville, Prince Edward County, Virginia, built about 1815 by Nathaniel E. Venable and remodeled about 1839.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as a farmhouse that evolved into one of the county's most stylish Greek Revival mansions, with interior woodwork derived from Asher Benjamin's Practical House Carpenter. It is also tied to the Venable family and to Longwood College, which took its name from the house in 1949.","narrative":"Longwood House is a large wood-frame residence on a private road off Johnson Drive, just outside Farmville in Prince Edward County. Nathaniel E. Venable built it about 1815 after a fire destroyed an earlier house on the site. Around 1839, as his family grew, it was enlarged with a gable roof, a Doric-columned front porch, a two-story west wing and stylish Greek Revival interior woodwork drawn from Asher Benjamin's Practical House Carpenter. Venable served in the Virginia House of Delegates and the State Senate, and his son Charles Scott Venable became a noted mathematician and staff officer to Robert E. Lee. The Venable family sold the property in 1873. In 1928 it was acquired by the State Teachers College at Farmville as a student retreat, and an east wing was added then. The college took the house's name in 1949, and the president's residence moved there in 1968. Some box shrubs and the broad lawn survive from the 19th-century garden.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"unknown (built by Nathaniel E. Venable)","architectural_style":"Late Federal and Greek Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by Longwood College and used as the president's residence; condition listed as excellent. A restoration of furnishings and gardens to the Venable period has been authorized.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:00.003203-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/60/6826/41682660/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/84003564.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41682660","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longwood_House_(Farmville,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15242824"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/prince-edward-county/longwood-house-84003564/"}