Department of Historic Resources
June 23, 2009
Contact: Randy Jones
Department of Historic Resources
(540) 568-8175
Randy.Jones@dhr.virginia.gov
State Approves 29 New Historic Sites
for Listing on the Virginia Landmarks Register
–Listings cover landmarks in the counties of Amherst, Bedford, Dinwiddie, Fairfax, Fauquier, Goochland, Highland, King and Queen, Loudoun, Lunenburg, Northampton, Roanoke, and Shenandoah, and the cities/towns of Buena Vista, Chesapeake, Culpeper, Danville, Hopewell, Newport News, Norfolk, Petersburg, Richmond, and Salem–
A former dormitory for single women working in a Danville cotton mill, a grand Richmond hotel that provided politicians a home away from home, and a hospital that had beds for African American patients during the era of segregation are among the 29 new sites added last week to the Virginia Landmarks Register by the Department of Historic Resources.
Hylton Hall, in Danville, was originally constructed in 1918 as a hotel style dormitory for single female workers of The Riverside & Dan River Cotton Mills (Dan River Mills), which grew to be one of the largest cotton mills in the country by the early 20th century after starting operations in 1882.
A six story Classical Revival building, the Hylton Hall dormitory offered a dining facility, social hall, and recreation center, amenities that reflected the democratic spirit that motivated the management of Dan River Mills in developing its workforce and its housing. The hall continued as a residential facility until 1948 when it was converted to offices.
The Ninth Street Office Building, once known as the Hotel Richmond, located near Capitol Square in downtown Richmond, was built in two phases between 1904 and 1911, and designed by prominent architects Harrison Albright and John Kevan Peebles.
Under the ownership of self made businesswoman Adeline Detroit Atkinson, during its heyday the 11 story Hotel Richmond, with a partial penthouse at the 12th level, offered elegant accommodations for politicians and often served as an ad hoc office, meeting place, and campaign headquarters for many. The building was purchased by the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1966 to house state offices, a function it still serves today.
The Whittaker Memorial Hospital in Newport News was conceived and operated during the era of segregation, when African American patients and physicians were largely isolated from the mainstream medical care available to whites.
The hospital resulted from the vision of two African American physicians, Drs. Walter T. Foreman and Robert L. Whittaker, who wanted to provide quality medical care to the city’s growing black population during the first half of the 20th century. Prior to the hospital’s founding in 1908, the only medical care available to the city’s black citizens was a clinic housed in the city jail.
During its history, Whittaker Memorial Hospital occupied three buildings: a rented house, a frame hospital built in 1915, and the current building. Designed by two prominent African American architects (William Henry Moses, Jr. and Charles Thaddeus Russell) and a black engineer, the 1943 hospital building had a 58 bed capacity but grew through two later additions to 166 beds. It served the city’s black community until closing in 1985 and is one of a few African American hospitals in the US built and designed by African American physicians and architects.
In addition to the Ninth Street Office Building, the following other properties were approved for listing on the Virginia Landmarks Register (VLR) from the capital region of the Department of Historic Resources, covering central and Southside Virginia:
The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Commercial and Industrial Historic District in Petersburg, which tells the story of the city's tobacco industry from 1879 through the early 1960s when Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company had its largest cigarette factory there. The district was also home to other commercial enterprises that arose between the early 20th century and the 1960s. For many years, the ACL Railroad tied the district together with spur lines for convenient transportation of raw materials and finished products.
Goochland County’s First Union School, which was constructed in 1926 with the assistance of the Rosenwald Fund as a standard two-teacher-plan school. One of four African American “Rosenwald” schools in the county, First Union served the black community for more than 30 years before closing in 1958. The school was associated with nearby First Union Baptist Church, whose roots date back to circa 1868.
The Fort Mitchell Depot, the last standing train depot in Lunenburg County, which once had seven passenger and freight depots affiliated with three different railroads. The front passenger portion of the former Virginian Railroad depot was constructed in the 1880s and is based on a prototypical plan used by most railroads in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Galts Mill Complex in Amherst County, which includes the mill and surrounding buildings and farms that comprised the village of Galts Mill. William Galt built the mill, constructed of stone and brick, about 1813. One of four mills that remain in the county, Galts Mill ceased operations, grinding grain for flour, in 1956. The mill village looks much as it did when the mill closed.
The Hopewell High School Complex in Hopewell, which was built in 1924 in an impressive Tudor Revival architectural style and served as the only high school in the area for a majority of city’s white population. The expansion of the curriculum, consistent with 20th-century developments in education, is revealed in the other buildings in the complex: a home economics cottage, gymnasium, and science and library building. It ceased serving as a high school in 1968.
Oak Grove, in eastern Goochland County, a well maintained and evolved example of an antebellum planter’s house that dates back to 1820. Oak Grove is associated with prosperous businessman Edwin DuVal, who had a key role in the commercial-industrial development of Manakin-Sabot during the second-half of the 19th century. The property also includes a small complex of historic buildings and sites.
Woodland Heights Historic District, which encompasses one of the oldest streetcar suburbs in Richmond, where the nation’s first commercially successful electric railway began operation in 1888. Designed and platted in 1889 along the south bank of the James River, Woodland Heights’s park-like feel attracted families dissatisfied with life in the crowded inner city. One of three suburban neighborhoods developed along the Forest Hill trolley car line, the Woodland Heights district preserves a handsome collection of historic houses exemplifying popular period designs. More than three-quarters of the 80-block neighborhood was built between 1895 and 1935.
The Zehmer Farm in Dinwiddie County, which includes a one story, ca. 1905 house and an impressive collection of farm buildings such as flue cured tobacco barns, a dairy barn, milk houses, and silos, as well as the sites of former tenant houses and a sawmill. The Zehmer family's 100 plus years of ownership documents agricultural practices in the county in the era before specialization.
Recently listed resources from the department’s Northern Virginia region, covering the Shenandoah Valley as well, include the following:
The Bowman-Zirkle Farm, in Shenandoah County, which features a well-preserved ca. 1879 Victorian farmhouse, and three earlier buildings including a ca. 1823 summer kitchen, a large ca. 1870 bank and forebay barn, and a pre Civil War log and frame tenant house, as well as barns constructed during the 1880s. The 286 acre farm represents both the importance and the persistence of the family farm tradition in the Shenandoah Valley
The Clem-Kagey Farm, in Shenandoah County, which also features a late Victorian era farmhouse, circa 1880. The house and its Italianate ornament may be the work of R. S. Jones, a local architect, builder, and carpenter. Other historic structures on the property include a frame wagon shed/workshop and a frame granary (both circa 1880), and a two car frame garage (circa 1920).
Crab Run Lane Truss Bridge, which was erected in 1896, and carries present day Rte. 645 across Cub Run, near McDowell in Highland County. The bridge’s four panel, pony truss bridge construction is the only surviving example of this unusual configuration in Virginia. Built by the West Virginia Bridge Works of Wheeling, WV, the bridge was converted for pedestrian and bicycle use in 1994.
Lexington Site, near Lorton in Fairfax County, which contains archaeological remains that document a nearly pristine record of the original landscape design of a late 18th century Georgian inspired dwelling and tobacco plantation. The plantation declined after 1818, with the demise of tobacco in the region.
The Orlean Historic District, a crossroads village in Fauquier County consisting of a collection of residential, commercial, educational, and religious buildings, the earliest of which dates to circa 1795. The village arose on land that was originally part of Thomas Lord Fairfax’s massive holdings. It was the site of the county’s first post office, established in 1817.
Rock Hill Farm, in Loudoun County, which features a Quaker-plan main dwelling, a Pennsylvania bank barn, tenant house, and smokehouse – all constructed circa 1797. While the main house was built by a non Quaker farmer, Abner Humphrey, who owned slaves, its construction as well as that of the barn testifies to the influence of the area’s Quaker architectural and agricultural traditions on non Quakers. Rock Hill Farm, which remained in the Humphrey family until 1947, has been placed under a conservation easement, ensuring its long term preservation.
The South East Street Historic District in Culpeper, which grew with the expansion of the railroad into the area before the Civil War. The district figured heavily in Union and Confederate military campaigns and encampments during the war. Substantial Union casualties in the area resulted in the establishment of the district’s Culpeper National Cemetery—previously listed on the state and national registers--following the Civil War. The district features residential architectural styles popular between 1835 and 1955.
Woodside, a two story, Greek Revival style brick dwelling, located in Fauquier County near the village of Delaplane. The house consists of a log section that may date to about 1800, with the brick section added in 1848. The property, closely associated with the Marshall family beginning in 1772, includes a late 19th century log kitchen and smokehouse, and an early 20th century barn and machine shed.
In addition to Hylton Hall in Danville, the following landmarks in the Roanoke region, covering southwest Virginia, were approved for listing in the VLR:
The Anderson-Doosing Farm, in Roanoke County’s Catawba Valley, which was probably established in the 1810s. An impressive double crib log bank barn, dating to circa 1830, stands on the property along with other early buildings like a log meat house and a cabin with a finely crafted stone chimney that later served as a blacksmith shop. The property’s main farmhouse, a two story frame dwelling, was built around 1883. Later buildings include a drive through corncrib, a milking parlor with concrete silos, and an equipment shed with an early 20th century blacksmith shop.
The Buena Vista Downtown Historic District (Rockbridge Co.), which exemplifies the “boom towns” that sprang up in western Virginia during the late 19th century. The town was established in 1889 at the juncture of two rail lines that tapped into timber and mineral reserves in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Buena Vista grew rapidly during its first two years, followed by measured growth through to the mid-20th century. In addition to its commercial buildings, the district also has a city hall and post office.
Liberty Hall, in Bedford County, an imposing brick dwelling, erected circa 1815 in the county’s New London community for Dr. John Thomas Wyatt Read. During the Civil War, Union Gen. David Hunter, who encamped near the property, torched a number of private homes in the area but spared Liberty Hall, which today is one of the best examples of Federal style architecture in the region.
The Valley Railroad Bridge, in Salem, which is an architecturally significant remnant of the never-completed Valley Railroad that was started during the era of reconstruction after the Civil War. Constructed in 1873 at considerable expense and of locally quarried stone, the bridge consists of a barrel vaulted tunnel through which a stream flows, and a rail grade to carry tracks across the stream tunnel. The structure exhibits some of the very best stonework of any period found in the area.
The following landmarks from the Tidewater region were also approved for listing on the state register along with Whittaker Memorial Hospital:
The American Cigar Company in Norfolk, a tobacco stemmery complex, constructed in 1903, and consisting of a primary processing building and a boiler building, both of which embody the era’s style of mill construction and industrial design. Workers at the facility, mostly African American women, removed stems from the tobacco leaf prior to its manufacture into cigars. Built near railroad tracks for easy transport of materials and product, the stemmery was located near to one of Norfolk’s African American communities, thus attracting an easily-exploitable workforce. In 1917, the complex was the site of a failed but noteworthy Women Wage Earner’s Association strike.
The eponymously named Simon Reid Curtis House, in Newport News, built by Curtis as a residence from which he could manage all of his business, political, and social activities. Often referred to as the “boss of Warwick County,” Curtis was the most powerful political figure during the first half of the 20th century in the county, which was later incorporated as the city of Newport News. During his heyday, Curtis established several regional banks, bought his way onto the boards of most of the utility companies, was named to other influential political and community posts, and served as the county's treasurer for 45 years.
The Eastville Historic District, which recognizes Northampton County’s seat of government, where the first permanent courthouse was constructed in 1690, home to the oldest continuous court records in the US. The district remained relatively isolated due to its location on Virginia’s Eastern Shore until the late 19th century when a railroad line was completed to the town in 1884, linking it with the mainland. The district’s architecture clearly reflects the change between its pre and post railroad days. In addition to Eastville, the district, which has a significant African American history, includes the communities of Eastville Station, James Crossroads (also known as the Forks), and Stumptown.
Providence Plantation, in King and Queen County, which was constructed circa 1826 and is one of a few Early Republic era brick farm houses that survives in Virginia’s upper Tidewater region. In addition to the main house, much of which is comprised of original construction material dating to at least the 1840s, the property features four surviving agricultural outbuildings spanning Reconstruction to the Great Depression that are still used today.
The Warden Family Home, which is located in a relatively rural setting in the city of Chesapeake. It was probably constructed during the late 18th century on land that was part of a 17th century plantation of 2,500 acres. The house was built during three phases beginning in the late 1700s and extending through the mid 1800s. It remains today a rare example of 18th and 19th century vernacular architecture in Chesapeake.
These new Virginia Landmark Register listings, approved by the two boards of the Department of Historic Resources during a joint quarterly meeting June 18, will be forwarded by Virginia’s State Historic Preservation Officer— Kathleen S. Kilpatrick, director of the Department of Historic Resources—to the National Park Service for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places.
Listing a property on the state or national register places no restrictions on what a property owner may do with his or her property.
Designating a property to the state or national register does provide an owner the opportunity to pursue state or federal tax credit rehabilitation improvements to his or her property. Tax credit projects must comply with the Secretary of Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation. An owner of a register-listed landmark may also donate a preservation easement on the property to the Commonwealth of Virginia in return for state tax credits.
Virginia is a national leader among the 50 states in registering historic sites and districts. The state is also a national leader for the number of tax credit rehabilitation projects proposed and completed each year. Together the register and tax credit rehabilitation programs have played a significant role in promoting the preservation of the Commonwealth’s historic sites and in spurring economic revitalization in many Virginia towns and communities.
Randall Jones
Public Relations & Publications
Dept. of Historic Resources
(540) 568-8175 (off)
(540) 578-3031 (cell)
(540) 568-3652 (fax)
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