{"nrhp_refnum":"90001925","name":"Willow Shade","other_names":["Willa Cather House","DHL File 34-162"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Jct. of Frederick Co. Rd. and US 50","address_restricted":false,"city":"Winchester","county":"Frederick County","state":"VA","lat":39.262966894000044,"lon":-78.30138986699995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1990-12-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Literature","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Willow Shade is a three-story brick house with a rear ell and four outbuildings on 4.5 acres beside Route 50 (the old Northwest Turnpike) near Winchester, Frederick County, Virginia. William Cather built it in 1851.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as an excellent example of pre-Civil War rural architecture in Northern Virginia, with vernacular late Greek Revival detailing of a quality rare in the Back Creek District. It is also the childhood home of novelist Willa Cather, who lived there from 1874 to 1883 and drew on it in her last novel, Sapphira and the Slave Girl (1940).","narrative":"Willow Shade is a three-story brick house with a rear ell, built in 1851 by William Cather beside the old Northwest Turnpike, now Route 50, near Winchester. Its vernacular late Greek Revival style shows in the center-hall plan, a Doric-columned portico, six-over-six sash windows and individually patterned woodwork in each room, including faux-marbled mantels and hand-grained doors. A basement kitchen with a large fireplace sits beside a spring room fed by running water. Four outbuildings stand on the 4.5-acre property, including a 1960s barn on the foundation of the sheep barn that burned in 1883. The house was the childhood home of author Willa Cather, who lived there from 1874 until her family left for Nebraska in 1883. She later portrayed the house and the Back Creek setting in Sapphira and the Slave Girl. The house has stayed a residence with few alterations, and owners began restoring it in 1986.","period_of_significance":"1851-1883","architect_builder":"Unknown (built by William Cather, according to the narrative)","architectural_style":"Greek Revival (vernacular late Greek Revival)","criteria":["B","C"],"status_note":"Used as a residence throughout its history; repair and restoration work began in 1986 and was still in progress at the time of the form.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:59.693061-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/14/6808/41680814/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/90001925.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90001925/78369b8d76-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90001925/78369b8d76-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"AgnosticPreachersKid","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Willow_Shade_1.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">AgnosticPreachersKid</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Willow_Shade_1.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680814","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willow_Shade","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14713543"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/frederick-county/willow-shade-90001925/"}