George Lewis Seaton House | |
Location | 404 S. Royal St., Alexandria, Virginia |
---|---|
Coordinates | 38°48′10″N77°2′39″W / 38.80278°N 77.04417°W |
Area | less than one acre |
Architectural style | Late Victorian |
MPS | African American Historic Resources of Alexandria, Virginia MPS |
NRHP reference No. | 03001425 [1] |
VLR No. | 100-5015-0007 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | January 16, 2004 |
Designated VLR | September 10, 2003 [2] |
The George Lewis Seaton House, located at 404 South Royal Street in Alexandria, Virginia and listed in the National Register of Historic Places, is the former home of George Lewis Seaton, a nineteenth-century African-American civic and political leader.
George Lewis Seaton was the first African-American legislator from Alexandria elected to the Virginia General Assembly. He was a wealthy man who tried to forge peace and understanding between the whites and blacks of his area. Seaton built several important buildings in Alexandria, including Odd Fellows Hall, the Seaton School for Boys, and the Hallowell School for Girls. He also helped found the Free School Society of Alexandria, the Colored YMCA, and the Colored Building Association. The two-story, three-bay, side hall plan brick townhouse that stands on the property today was built by Seaton's family after he died in 1881. They lived there into the 20th century, doing several renovations. [3]
The African Meeting House, also known variously as First African Baptist Church, First Independent Baptist Church and the Belknap Street Church, was built in 1806 and is now the oldest black church edifice still standing in the United States. The church also established a school, at first holding classes in its basement. After serving most of the nineteenth century as a church, it then served as a synagogue until 1972 when it was purchased for the Museum of African American History. It is located in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, adjacent to the historically Black American Abiel Smith School, now also part of the museum. It is a National Historic Landmark.
Woodlawn is a historic house located in Fairfax County, Virginia. Originally a part of Mount Vernon, George Washington's historic plantation estate, it was subdivided in the 19th century by abolitionists to demonstrate the viability of a free labor system. The address is now 9000 Richmond Highway, Alexandria, Virginia, but due to expansion of Fort Belvoir and reconstruction of historic Route 1, access is via Woodlawn Road slightly south of Jeff Todd Way/State Route 235. The house is a designated National Historic Landmark, primarily for its association with the Washington family, but also for the role it played in the historic preservation movement. It is now a museum property owned and managed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Kenmore, also known as Kenmore Plantation, is a plantation house at 1201 Washington Avenue in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Built in the 1770s, it was the home of Fielding and Betty Washington Lewis and is the only surviving structure from the 1,300-acre (530 ha) Kenmore plantation.
The Lee–Fendall House is a historic house museum and garden located in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, United States, at 614 Oronoco Street. Since its construction in 1785, the house has served as home to thirty-seven members of the Lee family (1785–1903), hundreds of convalescing Union soldiers (1863–1865), the prominent Downham family (1903–1937), the family of powerful labor leader John L. Lewis (1937–1969), and enslaved or free servants of those families.
Samuel M. Plato (1882–1957) was an American architect and building contractor who is noted for his work on federal housing projects and U.S. post offices, as well as designing and building other structures in the United States such as private homes, banks, churches, and schools. During World War II, the Alabama native was one of the few African-American contractors in the country to be awarded wartime building contracts, which included Wake and Midway Halls. He also received contracts to build at least thirty-eight U.S. post offices across the country.
Carlyle House is a historic mansion in Alexandria, Virginia, United States, built by Scottish merchant John Carlyle from 1751 to 1752 in the Georgian style.
Odd Fellows Hall is a historic Odd Fellows hall located at Alexandria, Virginia. It is a 2 1/2-story, brick building. It was built in 1864 as a one-story building, and expanded to its present size in 1870. African-American orders like the black Odd Fellows allowed blacks to socialize and put their skills to good use. In 1870, black builder and politician George Seaton was hired to build the Odd Fellows meeting hall in Alexandria, Virginia. For decades the building was used to house the group and many of the social gatherings of the African-American community. In the 1980s the building was converted into condominiums. It is a three-story brick building with decorative detailing and a slate mansard roof. The hall is currently a residential building.
The Southgate–Lewis House is located one mile east of the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas, at 1501 East 12th Street. The house was constructed in 1888, and now stands as an African-American historical landmark. It is also a repository for African-American History and Culture in the region of east Austin, which historically became an African-American neighborhood. The City of Austin has now declared this region to be "Austin's Black Cultural District." The Southgate–Lewis House is located in the center of the "African American Cultural Heritage District".
George Washington's Gristmill was part of the original Mount Vernon plantation, constructed during the lifetime of the United States' first president. The original structure was destroyed about 1850. The Commonwealth of Virginia and the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association have reconstructed the gristmill and the adjacent distillery. The reconstructed buildings are located at their original site three miles (4.8 km) west of the Mount Vernon mansion near Woodlawn Plantation in the Mont Vernon area of Fairfax County. Because the reconstructed buildings embody the distinctive characteristics of late eighteenth century methods of production and are of importance to the history of Virginia, the site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places despite the fact that the buildings are not original.
Aquia Creek sandstone is a brown to light-gray freestone used extensively in building construction in Washington, D.C. in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Quarried at Aquia Creek in Stafford County, Virginia, the stone was valuable for its ease of shaping and the quarry's proximity to the tidewater portion of the Potomac River, 45 miles (72 km) south of Washington.
The Old Presbyterian Meeting House is a Christian church located at 321 South Fairfax Street in the Old Town neighborhood of Alexandria, Virginia. It is part of the National Capital Presbytery and the Synod of the Mid-Atlantic of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
The Alexandria City Hall also known as the Alexandria Market House & City Hall, in Alexandria, Virginia, is a building built in 1871 and designed by Adolph Cluss. It was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1984. The site was originally a market from 1749 and courthouse from 1752. A new building was constructed in 1817 but after an extensive fire in 1871 it was rebuilt as a replica of the former building.
The Lloyd House, also known as the Wise-Hooe-Lloyd House, is a historic house and library located at 220 North Washington Street at the corner of Queen Street in the Old Town area of Alexandria, Virginia. It was built from 1796 to 1797 by John Wise, a prominent entrepreneur, in the late eighteenth-century Georgian architectural style. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 12, 1976.
The Athenaeum is a gallery of fine arts and a performance venue in Alexandria, Virginia, United States. It is also home to the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Association since 1964. The building is an important example of Greek Revival architecture. The Athenaeum has a long history and has served several purposes during its lifetime. The building is now part of the Virginia Trust and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
Beulah Normal and Theological Institute was the first Black school for educating teachers and preachers during the American Civil War and Reconstruction. It was founded in 1862 in Alexandria, Virginia by an African American preacher, Rev. Clem Robinson, as an upper division of "The First Select Colored School," in that city. This effort preceded any other Black theological or Normal school in the Reconstruction period.
Hallowell School for Girls was the first public school for African American girls in Alexandria, Virginia.
Snowden School for Boys was the first public school for African American boys in Alexandria, Virginia.
George Lewis Seaton was an African American carpenter, real estate holder, and school benefactor. Seaton built two schools for African American students in Alexandria, Virginia on behalf of the Freemen's Bureau and was a trustee of the First Free School Society. Seaton served in the Alexandria House of Delegates during the 1869-1871 session.