203 - .ITKG >sfi Sd:d ! WUDd SOILYKIWO3 A201kJ3AN! ( Ai:5~$i~~T~~~Lt~ T,03 - t i S33'flC 31ZOISt!-l JO 22LS1532: *lVP:OiLY?.' Good Fair Deteriorated Ruins i U c] U U 0 Unexposed ~- I (Clzrrk Oiirj (Check One) i n uno~tered [? Moved PI. orisimo~site ,GSFFG~REIENTAND OI:!GINAL (if knownj PHYSICAL APPEARASCE Thc Xllerslie house is an Italian Villa style dwelling erected I-'circa 1857, and ertenrively remodeled in 1910. Its original appearance is knorm from two contemporary representations. The earlier is a water color by a local artist, George Simpson. The second is a small unsigned pencil drawing made during the Civil I.7ar. The illustrations show a two-story stoccoed house with a three-bay facade. Sheltering the front entrance is a porte-cochere supported on two columns. On the north side is a three-story tower with flat roof, bracketed cornice, and paneled parapet. The roof of the main body of the house is similarly treated except that the parapet is not paneled. Panels are employed on the sides of the chimneys, however. The south xall features a central, three-part bay, and a two-story service wing is attached to the rear or east wall by an arcade. The windows on both the first and second floors are long and narrow and have no particular 1 embellishents. The Simpson drawing shows six-over-nine sash on the first floor and six-over-six sash on the second. Separating the two floors is a w I nar:mv, unornamented belt course. The original room arrangement and appearance of the trim is unlcno~m. m The house probably had the same number and type of rooms as shown in the m drawings for the first two proposed designs. In these, the architect, Robert - Young, provided a hall, library, morning room, drawing room, dining room, stair hall, store room and water closet on the first floor. The second floor Z hs divided into four bedrooms, dressing rooms, water closet, bathroom and w service areas. The tower room was designated as a "Ladies Sitting Room." --I The house bras set deep in a landscaped park. Beyond the park were farmlands. W As remodeled in 1910, the flat roof, cornicc, and parapet were removed c and rsplaced by a spreading hipped roof with deep eaves and exposed rafter D ends. Wide, three-part hipped roof dormers were placed on the roof's east and west slopes. Both the tower and the three-part. bay were raised an extra I !story and given hipped roofs. The porte-cochere was replaced by a veranda - / ?hat extends across the entire first floor of the facade. A new porte-cochere iwas built in front of the porch's center bay. The small pane sash was re- z lmoved and replaced with sashes of single sheets of glass. The service wing v, was retained but wes attached to the house and given a hipped roof. Its I.I interior was col-.verted into s. handsome game room. insidz, the house was compl.etely retrhmed; none of the original wood- ]workI or interior decoration was retained. The Bungaloid feeling of the exterior was carried into the stair hall. It features a finely crafted exposed joist ceiling, with tr~;rgue-and-grooved work between the joists. The /rich,I dark-wood stair rias given square-tapered newells and a balustrade /containing ?.5ogul-typc arches. The reception roorns were restyled with a / combination of Louis XVL and Georgian motifs. The paneling and ryoodwork in the drawing room and writing roo;n are dignified examples of their period. Presently, the interior is enhanced by an exceptionally fine collection of antiqdes. The landscaped park is largely intact and contains many of its original trees. The grounds are accented by a series of early-twentieth-century out- buildings and farm structures built for David Dunlop 11. Of particular interest is a large, log manager's house dcsigned by Carneal and Johnston, 1 archi'cects of the remodeling. I i . .- - . ~ CCL i ------I s2Z: -iC DATE!II (If Applicable endi
~~T*:E\',CNT OF 51GNIFICANCE i Ellerslie is a handsomely preserved ante-bellum estate containing an cnasual Italian Villa style mansion and a rare surviving exainple of a mid- n.i-eteenth century private landscaped park. The estate was formed by David Lbnlop (1803-186&), a native of Ayr, Scotland, who settled in Petersbuzg, .. . "1.rglnia in 1828, and quickly became one of the most successful tobacco ':ro:g=rs and dealers of his day. The Chesterfield County tract on which he established his cogintry seat originally served as one of his tobacco
EV~ILthough hnlop acquired the Ellerslie land in 1839 he did not get lzrcuad to building his house until the 1850's. For his architect Dunlop 1 chose Robert Young of the Belfast, Ireland, firm of Young and HacKenzie. /'itis fact that knlop remained a British subject until his death makes it i?iz.;sijle that he should have thought only a fellow subject could provide , . rrk vith suitable designs for his country house. The design vent through icbree versions, and the sets of drawings for the first two versions, produce3 !in 1836, sur~iveat Ellerslie today. The drawings for the third and fi.nal iversionI do not; as was the custom, they probably were handed over to the Ih3ildi.r. and discarded when they no longer were useful. 1 The appearance of the house as originally completed around 1857 is i:
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GPO 921.724 I CAJ~?LTl3LI3SRAPfllCAL REFERENCES -- -- Mrioirs o! the WardSlcc~ssion~o1unbia.S.C., 1910, p. 3021 Loth, Calder, "Ellerslie, a Scotsman's Villa in Virginia," htiques , June, 1973, PP.-. 1157-1160. I Wyact, Edward A., IV, Plantation Houses Around Petersburg, 1955, p.22. Vi~gininIiistoric Landmarks Commission archives.
~- N E 37" 16' 27' 77" 24 14" 04") 77077. / jEs,i 1 :yo79 165; 2474 75. 1~ APPiiOXI:4A-;i ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY: 1 14.i20 - ILNST ALL STATES ~P&DCOUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES - .-.- STATE: C03E COUNTY
- SiAiE: CO2F COUNTY: CODE
- STAT:: I-- -COSE COUNTY:
VireiniaL - Historic Lankarks Comiss~bnIISSta:.f_-- OR'&N,zTtT, Virgini~. . His toric -- Landmarks-- Comiss-- -- ion l~uast,1973 ZTPl FI AND VUClaER 221 Govc~rnor-- Street -.-- .. -- Ci-7 09 i0hN STATE f,ichno,~d Vir~inia * - I xi ,' -LIAISON OFFICER C~RTIFICAI ION 1: NATIONAL REGtSTER VERlilCAflOh - A, i:lr Jrsii~natedState Liaison Officer for the Na.. I hereby certify that this grolxrty i-i inc!ndcd in the tional ,iiiioiic Of la66 (Public x3tiona1 Registcr. 39-665). I hereby nominate this property for inclusion in tile National Register and rnrtify that it has been /i r,val$~iitid:iccnrdiliq to the r-iteria and procechres set I/ fwih 1,s the National Park Srrulce. Tlir rccomrnei~ded / D-to., O1ljce 01 A.cheoIo#y and HI.~turicPzes-vatiom level of sip,oificance ol this riornination is: Nntiorlvl [x State I.ocu1 i; II Name ATTEST: Jui~iusK. Fishburne, Jr., Director // Virginia Elistoric Landmarks Coiwissio 1'1111. -- Keeper of Tl~cNvtianai Rebistrr Date -I -- GI'O 931.83 :