{"nrhp_refnum":"92000003","name":"Avenel","other_names":["Burwell,William M.,House","DHR File No. 141-01"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"413 Avenel Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Bedford (Independent City)","county":"Bedford (city and county)","state":"VA","lat":37.33791030000003,"lon":-79.52434774699998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1992-01-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Avenel is a two-story brick plantation house at 413 Avenel Avenue in Bedford, Virginia, built around 1836 for William M. Burwell, with surviving outbuildings on a 3.3-acre lot.","why_significant":"The nomination argues Avenel is important for how local master craftsmen used pattern books to blend Federal and Greek Revival styles into a sophisticated vernacular house for the Piedmont Virginia planter class. It is also noted for its unusual architectural integrity, down to details such as locks and glass.","narrative":"Avenel is a two-story brick house with a hipped roof, built around 1836 for William M. Burwell on a rise above the town then called Liberty, now part of the City of Bedford. The Flemish-bond house stands on a raised basement and combines Federal and Greek Revival features, including a Doric cornice, recessed wood panels between the windows, and a recessed two-level loggia. Its plan has two perpendicular entrance halls, each with a staircase, which may have accommodated an extended family. Interior woodwork, ornamental plaster ceilings and mantels draw on Asher Benjamin's pattern book. A ruined brick kitchen, a smokehouse, a hen house and a barn survive nearby. The property is significant for showing how skilled local craftsmen interpreted high-style ideas for planter families in mid-nineteenth-century Piedmont Virginia, and for its unusually intact original fabric. Burwell was a legislator who secured the charter for the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. Much of the plantation land was later sold and developed as city neighborhoods.","period_of_significance":"1835 - 1900","architect_builder":"Unknown; master builder believed to have been a Mr. Shumaker","architectural_style":"Federal; Greek Revival","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"The main house is a former single dwelling; the form lists current function as work in progress. A brick kitchen building is in ruins, and three frame dependencies survive.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:00.739324-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/78/6797/41679778/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/92000003.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/92000003/faa35a5b22-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/92000003/faa35a5b22-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"LeeG7144","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Avenel_Front_View.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">LeeG7144</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:Avenel_Front_View.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"84000031","name":"Bedford Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/bedford-historic-district-84000031/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41679778","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avenel_(Bedford,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14711990"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/bedford/avenel-92000003/"}