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Virginia House
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Virginia House
Virginia House is a manor house on a hillside overlooking the James River in the Windsor Farms neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia, United States.
The house was constructed from the materials of the 16th-century Priory House, Warwick in Warwickshire, England, and shipped over and reassembled, completed several months before the stock market crash of 1929. Virginia House is in the Tudor architectural style but incorporates a range of designs from other English houses and has modern facilities such as ten baths and central heating.
Virginia House was built by Alexander and Virginia Weddell, salvaging many materials from the Priory and other old English manor houses and adding further elegant English and Spanish antiques, oriental carpets, silks, and silver. Today Virginia House is operated by the Virginia Historical Society as a house museum, although it largely remains as it was in the 1940s during the Weddells’ tenancy. Immediately to the west of the property is Agecroft Hall.
The façade of Virginia House was originally located on the grounds of the former Augustinian Priory of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem (Warwick Priory) in Warwick, England, founded in 1109. In 1536, at the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the priory was shut down and the land later bought by a politician named Thomas Hawkins alias Fisher, during the reign of Edward VI. Fisher demolished most of the monastic buildings and erected the house which he named "Hawk's Nest," set among gardens. He entertained Elizabeth I at the house. The property was bought in 1709 by Henry Wise, Royal Gardener to Queen Anne. In the mid-nineteenth century, it was purchased by the Lloyds Bank family who put the manor up for sale at auction in 1925.
Alexander W. Weddell, a wealthy American diplomat and his wife Virginia Chase Steedman, however, offered a lump sum of £3,500 for the entire remaining structure and secured a deal before the auction was held. The purchase by the Americans caused an outrage in the British press and the Weddells were heavily criticized given that the heritage property was to be demolished. The objection to the purchase was also backed by a Member of Parliament (MP) who proposed that the sale be invalidated in order to prevent this "act of vandalism". However, the motion was rejected and as it gradually became apparent what the Weddels intentions were, on April 13, 1926, another MP, Frank Rye, sent a letter to Alexander Weddell saying, "Had you not stepped in and bought the materials of the partially demolished structure, they would have been lost for all time, whereas now they will be utilised in the erection of a new building."
The Tudor mansion was dismantled but, concerned that the stone would swiftly disintegrate during the demolition phase, Weddell's advisers ordered that a small explosive device be triggered in the centre of the house and the undamaged stones salvaged. However, the explosion had the effect of splitting the walls intact meaning that much of the building could be salvaged and shipped to the United States. The first shipments arrived in Richmond, Virginia in early 1926, but they were soaked in seawater and had to be dried in a barn for up to six months. From the very beginning, the Weddells planned on deeding the house to the Virginia Historical Society and allocating the west wing of the structure as a museum once it was rebuilt in Virginia. The Weddells also intended the structure to become the society's new headquarters.
Virginia House was constructed in the Windsor Farms neighborhood of Richmond by the General Contracting firm of Allen J. Saville, Inc., although several different architects were employed during the rebuilding. Foundation work began on November 6, 1925, and the structure was officially turned over to the Weddells on January 1, 1929. The total cost of the construction was $236,968.83, with an additional $15,000 spent on buying the lot, a considerable sum for that time.
The Weddells lived at Virginia House until they both died in a train accident in 1948. After their deaths the house became the permanent residence of the historical society. On June 13, 1990, Virginia House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, due to it being considered "a noteworthy representative of a peculiar residential building type prevalent in the late 19th and early 20th century period of American architecture." During this time – known as the Country Place Era – many wealthy American families built extensive country estates emulating those they had seen while traveling in Europe.
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Virginia House
Virginia House is a manor house on a hillside overlooking the James River in the Windsor Farms neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia, United States.
The house was constructed from the materials of the 16th-century Priory House, Warwick in Warwickshire, England, and shipped over and reassembled, completed several months before the stock market crash of 1929. Virginia House is in the Tudor architectural style but incorporates a range of designs from other English houses and has modern facilities such as ten baths and central heating.
Virginia House was built by Alexander and Virginia Weddell, salvaging many materials from the Priory and other old English manor houses and adding further elegant English and Spanish antiques, oriental carpets, silks, and silver. Today Virginia House is operated by the Virginia Historical Society as a house museum, although it largely remains as it was in the 1940s during the Weddells’ tenancy. Immediately to the west of the property is Agecroft Hall.
The façade of Virginia House was originally located on the grounds of the former Augustinian Priory of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem (Warwick Priory) in Warwick, England, founded in 1109. In 1536, at the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the priory was shut down and the land later bought by a politician named Thomas Hawkins alias Fisher, during the reign of Edward VI. Fisher demolished most of the monastic buildings and erected the house which he named "Hawk's Nest," set among gardens. He entertained Elizabeth I at the house. The property was bought in 1709 by Henry Wise, Royal Gardener to Queen Anne. In the mid-nineteenth century, it was purchased by the Lloyds Bank family who put the manor up for sale at auction in 1925.
Alexander W. Weddell, a wealthy American diplomat and his wife Virginia Chase Steedman, however, offered a lump sum of £3,500 for the entire remaining structure and secured a deal before the auction was held. The purchase by the Americans caused an outrage in the British press and the Weddells were heavily criticized given that the heritage property was to be demolished. The objection to the purchase was also backed by a Member of Parliament (MP) who proposed that the sale be invalidated in order to prevent this "act of vandalism". However, the motion was rejected and as it gradually became apparent what the Weddels intentions were, on April 13, 1926, another MP, Frank Rye, sent a letter to Alexander Weddell saying, "Had you not stepped in and bought the materials of the partially demolished structure, they would have been lost for all time, whereas now they will be utilised in the erection of a new building."
The Tudor mansion was dismantled but, concerned that the stone would swiftly disintegrate during the demolition phase, Weddell's advisers ordered that a small explosive device be triggered in the centre of the house and the undamaged stones salvaged. However, the explosion had the effect of splitting the walls intact meaning that much of the building could be salvaged and shipped to the United States. The first shipments arrived in Richmond, Virginia in early 1926, but they were soaked in seawater and had to be dried in a barn for up to six months. From the very beginning, the Weddells planned on deeding the house to the Virginia Historical Society and allocating the west wing of the structure as a museum once it was rebuilt in Virginia. The Weddells also intended the structure to become the society's new headquarters.
Virginia House was constructed in the Windsor Farms neighborhood of Richmond by the General Contracting firm of Allen J. Saville, Inc., although several different architects were employed during the rebuilding. Foundation work began on November 6, 1925, and the structure was officially turned over to the Weddells on January 1, 1929. The total cost of the construction was $236,968.83, with an additional $15,000 spent on buying the lot, a considerable sum for that time.
The Weddells lived at Virginia House until they both died in a train accident in 1948. After their deaths the house became the permanent residence of the historical society. On June 13, 1990, Virginia House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, due to it being considered "a noteworthy representative of a peculiar residential building type prevalent in the late 19th and early 20th century period of American architecture." During this time – known as the Country Place Era – many wealthy American families built extensive country estates emulating those they had seen while traveling in Europe.
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