{"nrhp_refnum":"89001883","name":"Surface House","other_names":["154-43"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"High St., E of Depot St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Christiansburg","county":"Montgomery County","state":"VA","lat":37.13901631600004,"lon":-80.40810337599999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-11-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story frame dwelling on High Street at the crest of Zion Hill in Christiansburg, Montgomery County, Virginia, dated to about 1870. It follows a double-pile center-passage plan.","why_significant":"The nomination argues significance under criterion C as an important, well preserved example of the nineteenth-century double-pile center-passage house. It is the only one-story example among thirteen such houses identified in the county from 1865-1900. It also has the relatively unusual chimney placement between the front and rear rooms, and it is one of the best preserved heavily ornamented examples.","narrative":"This one-story frame house sits on High Street at the crest of Zion Hill in Christiansburg, near the Old Christiansburg Institute. Built around 1870, it follows a double-pile center-passage plan with chimneys placed between the pair of rooms on each side of the passage, a relatively unusual arrangement. Weatherboard walls rest on a limestone foundation under a hipped roof trimmed with paired ornamental brackets, which also decorate the pedimented four-bay porch with chamfered columns. Windows hold four-over-four sash beneath carved label molds. Inside, plastered walls, molded trim and Italianate mantels survive, and the passage has no stairway. A recent south wing faces away from the street and does not disturb the original design. The house is significant for its architecture: of thirteen nineteenth-century double-pile center-passage houses identified in the county from 1865 to 1900, it is the only one-story example, and it is the only frame one-story example predating 1880. Its architect or builder is unknown.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1870","architect_builder":"unknown","architectural_style":"Double-pile center passage plan","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Well preserved and recently restored by its owners; a one-story wing was added on the south side, and the house remains a single dwelling.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:59.980092-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/56/6787/41678756/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/89001883.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001883/96fa124fc1-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001883/96fa124fc1-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Skye Marthaler","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Surface_House_-_Front_View.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Skye Marthaler</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:Surface_House_-_Front_View.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41678756","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14713276"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/montgomery-county/surface-house-89001883/"}