Azurest South National Historic Landmark Nomination
Ferentinos S and Casper A. 2024. Azurest South National Historic Landmark Nomination. National Historic Landmark Nominations. 93001464_NHL. National Park Service. Washington, DC
This document is the National Historic Landmark (NHL) nomination for Azurest South in Petersburg, Chesterfield County, Virginia. The NHL nomination for Azurest South documents its national significance under NHL Criteria 1 and 4 as an exceptional example of subversive and innovative modern architecture by Amaza Lee Meredith (1895-1984), a Black (biracial), queer, woman in the Jim Crow South (1877-1964). Embodying her ideas about art and design theory and her identity as a New Negro woman, yet surrounded by Colonial Revival architecture of the historically Black Virginia State University (VSU), Azurest South demonstrates the ways that architecture expresses, sustains, and protects culture and identity. The period of significance is 1939-1984, representing the years when Meredith and her life partner, Edna Meade Colson (1888-1985) resided in the house, from its construction until Meredith’s death. Azurest South is also significant as an unusual example of modern architecture combining vocabularies of Streamline Moderne, Art Deco, and the International Style in the American South, designed in 1938 by Amaza Lee Meredith. Azurest South is designated under NHL Exception 8 as a property that has achieved significance within the past fifty years, to include the last nine years of Meredith’s life.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Ferentinos, Susan; Casper, Amanda
- Date of Issue
- 2024-12-13
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Keywords
- Amaza Lee Meredith, Art Deco, Chesterfield, Edna Meade Colson, International Style, LGBTQ, modernism, National Historic Landmark, Petersburg, Streamline Moderne, Virginia, Virginia State University