The Boat House

There is one source that credits this home to Robert Sheffey, also a well-known Bluefield architect, second only to Alex Mahood. The Sydney Kwass house was built in 1935, and one reference cites that this bold design “acts as an architectural challenge to its period revival neighbors.” The brick house has always been painted white. With its distinct horizontal brick, corner casement windows, flat roof, and three round porthole windows, it is said to have been inspired by a model house at the Century of Progress Exposition at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. According to one story, Kwass, a successful Bluefield attorney and respected man in the community, was denied a loan from a local bank because of the radical design of the home. This unique home is sometimes referred to as “The Boat House.”