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Archer House, Lot No. 123, Water Street, Yorktown, York County, Virginia

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Archer House, Lot No. 123, Water Street, Yorktown, York County, Virginia

description

Summary

Significance: The Archer House, on Lot 107, is currently the only visible structure on the Yorktown waterfront with colonial associations. The fire of 1814 has been assumed to have destroyed the house but shortly afterwards, about 1820, it was rebuilt on its original stone foundations above its basement which was likely filled at that point. The rebuilder of the house could have been Nathanial Taylor, Sr., whose family remained in it until 1840. The National Park Service rebuilt the structure in 1960.

From an archaeological study in 1958 by John W. Griffen, we read, "Physically, it [the house] was slightly larger than most of the waterfront buildings, and judging from the surviving details, may have been somewhat more pretentious than the present building. It has been generally assumed that the house burned in the great fire of 1814 leaving only the foundation walls and ….chimney." The evidence uncovered showed the foundations suffered from a major fire. The foundations are 18th century and unique to Yorktown, possibly deposited here by English ships in colonial days. The stone walls consists of granite, limestone, coral and marl but major portions of river rock, with some brick and slate used for filing holes. The chimney below the 5ft 7 inch level is from the 18th century and the upper portion that which was rebuilt.

The one and one-half story, wood frame house has a central passage floor plan with a room to either side of the passage on the main floor and two rooms in the attic or garret level. The enclosed stair rises east of the passage. The room to the west of the passage is heated, and the west room in the attic is also heated.

Dormer windows punctuate the slope of the gable roof and provide light to the attic rooms.
Survey number: HABS VA-914

date_range

Date

1933 - 1960
person

Contributors

Historic American Buildings Survey, creator
Bennett, G F, delineator
Griffin, J W, delineator
Williams, T L, photographer
place

Location

Yorktown (Va.)37.23989, -76.52188
Google Map of 37.2398881, -76.5218812
create

Source

Library of Congress
copyright

Copyright info

No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html

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