{"nrhp_refnum":"90000872","name":"Monticola","other_names":["DHR file 02-51"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"SR 602 N of jct. with SR 724","address_restricted":false,"city":"Howardsville","county":"Albemarle County","state":"VA","lat":37.74204885650005,"lon":-78.64713572406546,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1990-06-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Monticola is a three-story brick Greek Revival plantation house built in 1853 for Daniel James Hartsook near Howardsville, Albemarle County, Virginia. It sits on forty acres of the original 791-acre estate, with several outbuildings.","why_significant":"The nomination argues Monticola is a distinguished example of an antebellum Greek Revival plantation house along the James River and a landmark in the Howardsville/Scottsville area. It is also tied to two prominent Virginia businessmen, Daniel J. Hartsook and Emil Otto Nolting. It retains many original features, its landscape and its outbuildings.","narrative":"Monticola is a three-story brick plantation house built in 1853 atop a small mountain north of Howardsville, Virginia. Merchant and banker Daniel James Hartsook built it, and it is now set on forty of its original 791 acres. The house has a pedimented two-story south portico, giant stuccoed pilasters, a hipped slate roof with a cupola, and a central-passage plan. Several original outbuildings survive. Later owner Emil Otto Nolting, a Richmond tobacco businessman, altered the portico, added a semicircular Colonial Revival porch on the north side, and replaced the tin roof with slate after 1887. Union cavalry raided the property in 1865 but did not destroy it. The house stood empty from 1955 to 1968 before restoration began. It was listed as a refined example of Greek Revival design along the James River and for its links to Hartsook and Nolting, two leading Virginia businessmen of their eras.","period_of_significance":"1853-1911","architect_builder":"Unknown (builder/owner Daniel James Hartsook; later alterations associated with Emil Otto Nolting)","architectural_style":"Greek Revival; Colonial Revival","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Used as a single dwelling. The house was unoccupied from 1955 to 1968, then restored by later owners, with restoration of the outbuildings and front porch continuing at the time of nomination.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:00.367246-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/87/6792/41679287/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/90000872.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90000872/a2657ad962-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90000872/a2657ad962-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Frances Benjamin Johnston","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monticola_near_Howardsville_Albemarle_County_Virginia_by_Frances_Benjamin_Johnston_1935.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Frances Benjamin Johnston</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monticola_near_Howardsville_Albemarle_County_Virginia_by_Frances_Benjamin_Johnston_1935.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"07001236","name":"Southern Albemarle Rural Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/southern-albemarle-rural-historic-district-07001236/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41679287","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monticola_(Howardsville,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14712883"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/albemarle-county/monticola-90000872/"}