{"nrhp_refnum":"90001831","name":"Newsome, J. Thomas, House","other_names":["Dhr 121-52"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2803 Oak Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Newport News (Independent City)","county":"Newport News","state":"VA","lat":36.989990102000036,"lon":-76.40473013699994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1990-12-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Black"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A seven-bay, two-and-one-half-story Queen Anne-style frame house at 2803 Oak Avenue in southeastern Newport News, Virginia, built in 1898.","why_significant":"The house was the home from 1906 until 1942 of J. Thomas Newsome, a black attorney and journalist who became the first black attorney approved to argue before the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia. He was a leader of the Newport News black community through law, church, school advocacy, politics and newspaper editing. The nomination lists it under Ethnic Heritage: Black, with local significance.","narrative":"This 1898 frame house at 2803 Oak Avenue in Newport News, Virginia, is a two-and-one-half-story Queen Anne residence with a steeply pitched, irregular roof, a polygonal corner tower, a Palladian window and a wraparound porch on stuccoed brick piers. Inside, spindle latticework and fluted columns frame the openings off the central passage, and a one-story wing holds the kitchen and sun porch. It was listed because of J. Thomas Newsome, who lived here from 1906 until his death in 1942. A black attorney and journalist, he became the first black attorney approved to argue before the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia, helped found Trinity Baptist Church, promoted Huntington High School, organized the Colored Voters League of Warwick County and edited the Newport News Star. The house had stood vacant for about six years and was damaged, though it kept its design and setting. A local group planned to turn it into a community center and museum of black history in Newport News.","period_of_significance":"1906-1939","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late Victorian: Queen Anne","criteria":["B"],"status_note":"Vacant and not in use for about six years, with windows and doors boarded up and some deterioration; a nonprofit group planned to acquire it for a community center and history museum.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:59.821846-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/87/6820/41682087/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/90001831.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90001831/302d89bad9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90001831/302d89bad9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Joseph Sullivan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:J.T._Newsome_House_(Front).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Joseph Sullivan</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:J.T._Newsome_House_(Front).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41682087","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Thomas_Newsome_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16895849"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/newport-news/newsome-j-thomas-house-90001831/"}