Virginia House facts for kids
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Virginia House
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Facade of Virginia House
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 Location in Virginia
Location in the United States
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| Location | 4301 Sulgrave Rd., Richmond, Virginia |
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| Area | 8.8 acres (3.6 ha) |
| Built | 1925 |
| Architect | Henry G. Morse (re-creation) Charles Gillette (landscape) William Lawrence Bottomley (1946 addition) |
| Architectural style | Classical Revival, Tudor Revival, Flemish |
| NRHP reference No. | 89001933 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | June 13, 1990 |
Virginia House is a beautiful manor house in Richmond, Virginia. It sits on a hill and looks out over the James River. What makes this house special is that it was built using parts of an old English house from the 16th century!
The original building was called Priory House and was located in Warwickshire, England. Its pieces were carefully shipped across the ocean and put back together here. The house was finished in 1929. Virginia House looks like a Tudor style home. It also has modern features like ten bathrooms and central heating.
Virginia House was built by a couple named Alexander and Virginia Weddell. They saved many materials from the old English Priory and other manor houses. They also filled their new home with beautiful English and Spanish antiques, fancy carpets, silks, and silver. Today, Virginia House is a museum run by the Virginia Historical Society. It still looks much like it did when the Weddells lived there in the 1940s. Right next to it is another historic home called Agecroft Hall.
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History of Virginia House
The front of Virginia House was once part of a very old building in Warwick, England. This building was a priory, a type of monastery, founded in 1109. It was called the Priory of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem.
From Priory to Manor Home
In 1536, during a time called the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the priory was closed down. Later, a politician named Thomas Fisher bought the land. He tore down most of the old monastery buildings. In their place, he built a new house called "Hawk's Nest." He even had Queen Elizabeth I visit him there!
In 1709, a royal gardener named Henry Wise bought the property. Then, in the mid-1800s, the Lloyds Bank family owned it. They decided to sell the manor in 1925.
Moving a House Across the Ocean
Alexander W. Weddell, a rich American diplomat, and his wife Virginia Chase Steedman wanted the house. They offered £3,500 for the entire remaining structure. They made a deal before the auction even happened.
This purchase made many people in Britain very upset. The British press and even a Member of Parliament (MP) criticized the Weddells. They thought it was "an act of vandalism" to take apart such a historic building. However, their efforts to stop the sale failed.
As people learned what the Weddells planned, opinions changed. On April 13, 1926, another MP, Frank Rye, wrote to Alexander Weddell. He said that if the Weddells hadn't bought the materials, they would have been lost forever. Now, they would be used to build a new house.
Rebuilding in Richmond
The old Tudor mansion was taken apart. To make sure the stones didn't break, the Weddells' team used a small explosive. This helped split the walls cleanly. Because of this, much of the building could be saved.
The first shipments of stones arrived in Richmond, Virginia in early 1926. They were soaked in seawater, so they had to dry in a barn for up to six months. From the very beginning, the Weddells planned to give the house to the Virginia Historical Society. They wanted the west wing to be a museum. They also hoped the house would become the society's new main office.
Virginia House was rebuilt in the Windsor Farms neighborhood of Richmond. The construction started on November 6, 1925. The house was officially given to the Weddells on January 1, 1929. The total cost was over $236,000, plus $15,000 for the land. This was a lot of money back then!
The Weddells lived in Virginia House until they both died in a train accident in 1948. After their deaths, the house became the permanent home of the Virginia Historical Society. In 1990, Virginia House was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It was recognized as a great example of the "Country Place Era." This was a time when many wealthy American families built large country homes. They wanted to copy the grand estates they had seen in Europe.
Virginia House Structure
Many stones and materials from the old English priory were used to rebuild Virginia House. However, the new house also included other designs and ideas.
Exterior Design
After buying the English property, the Weddells hired architect Henry Grant Morse. They traveled around the English countryside. They looked at different houses to find designs they could use. So, the rebuilt Virginia House is not an exact copy of the original.
The west side of the house looks like Sulgrave Manor. This is a small manor house in England that belonged to an ancestor of George Washington. The middle part of Virginia House is a copy of the original English priory. It has curved gables and special designs that were popular in the 1600s. The east side of the house is based on Wormleighton Manor, another English estate.
Inside the House
The inside of Virginia House is very elegant. It has oak furniture and many English and Spanish antiques. You can also see beautiful oriental carpets, silks, and silver. The first floor has large, fancy rooms. These were meant for social gatherings and for the Virginia Historical Society's events.
The second floor was designed for the Weddells and their staff to live in. It had a big library. This room is now used as a meeting room and research area for the Virginia Historical Society.
The back hall has tall oak paneling. It also features small oil paintings of famous Renaissance people. In the hallway, there are decorative columns that look like a fancy gateway. Stained glass doors at the end lead to the back porch.
The dining room has oak furniture from another English manor. It also has a large stone fireplace in the middle of the room. The floor is made of old oak wood. The ceiling has a repeated Tudor rose pattern.
In the southeast part of the house is the Sulgrave Room. This room is a copy of the great hall from George Washington's family home, Sulgrave Manor. The fireplace mantel is made from an oak beam from the original priory. Heavy oak beams were used for the open ceiling in this room. The walls have a special mottled plaster finish.
The grand library on the second floor is also very impressive. It has a high, cathedral-like ceiling. It also has a large conference table. This table was used for meetings by the Virginia Historical Society. Like the Sulgrave Room, the fireplace mantel is made from the old Hawkins manor oak. It has an old English saying carved into it: "O ye fyre and heate bless ye the Lord."
Behind the library's wood panels is a secret hidden passage! Alexander Weddell asked for this to be added. It leads to his private study. The rest of the second floor has living quarters and bathrooms. These include rooms for the Virginia Historical Society staff. Virginia Weddell's bedroom, bath, and study are also on this floor.
Beautiful Gardens
Virginia House is surrounded by carefully planned gardens. These gardens have many different kinds of plants. Virginia Weddell hired a famous landscape architect named Charles Gillette in 1927. Over about twenty years, he created more than 8 acres of beautiful gardens.
These gardens have nearly 1,000 types of plants. You can see formal spring flower displays. There are also wisteria, roses, and large hydrangeas that hang over balconies and garden railings. Garden tours are held at Virginia House every spring. Thousands of visitors come to see the beautiful plants each year.
See also
