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Samuel Stephenson and his wife Cynthia, built this home in 1889. Samuel was born in Nicholas County, West Virginia in 1859.1 He served as a state deputy revenue collector and city councilman, but his rise to fame came through his business in the oil, gas and coal industries.2

The 1889 Victorian house as it appears today.

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Built in 1889 by Samuel and Cynthia Stephenson, this lovely Queen Anne Victorian style home stands on Bradford Street in Charleston, West Virginia, between the intersection of Kanawha Boulevard and Virginia Street. The house has been fully restored internally and externally. It retains many classic features of a Queen Anne Victorian home, such as wood siding, a corner turret, large porch and slate roof. 

Stephenson-Toovey House

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This tour guides users to over twenty of Charleston's historic homes. Explore a wide variety of sites ranging from important African-American homes, to political residences, to twentieth century mansions. For a more focused tour, see the Seven Sisters tour of Charleston's antebellum houses here: https://theclio.com/tour/323.

The "Stone House" was built in 1845 by Harop L. Joy and J. Carson. Designed in simple Federal style, the sandstone for the spacious and well-proportioned home was quarried on the property. An important West Virginia woman lived much of her life in the house, and it is her story that echoes throughout the home today. Rebecca Wood was born in March 1824 to prosperous landowning parents in the Kanawha Valley. She quickly grew into a strong, intelligent, and spunky young woman, and was married to Adam Littlepage, who had recently (on February 8, 1845) moved to the Kanawha Valley to join the growing salt business. The recently married Littlepages moved to a rented home near Brook’s Furnace, located on the site of what is now Daniel Boone Park. There, Rebecca and Adam welcomed their first three children, daughters Mary Lavinia and Mary Elizabeth and son John William. Both of the girls died in infancy, a common occurrence in those times. In 1848, the young couple began to plan for a permanent home when the Stone House on Kanawha Two-Mile Creek went up for auction. Adam Littlepage outbid Dr. Spicer Patrick, who owned adjacent property, by $500, and Rebecca Littlepage moved into the Stone House, which was to be her home for the rest of her life, with her family. The Littlepage family quickly grew; Rebecca brought five more children into the world before the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. Unlike the rest of Western Virginia, Kanawha County had a sizable slave population. In 1850, there were more than 3,000 slaves compared to a free population of 12,000. Rebecca’s mother had given her a slave, a young woman of 18 named Celine, at the time of Rebecca’s marriage to Adam Littlepage. Adam, an industrious businessman, used slaves in one of his many businesses, a cooperage across the street from the Stone House. When the state of Virginia seceded from the Union, the Kanawha Valley was sharply divided. Like the Littlepages, many of the landed gentry were supporters of the Southern cause. The top command post for the Kanawha Valley was controversially given to Henry A. Wise, former governor of Virginia. Wise was soon sent to the Valley to protect it from an invasion that might come from Union troops in Ohio. Wise and his soldiers set up camp near one of Adam Littlepage’s landholdings, a farm that was the main source of the family's food. While the Confederate troops camper near their property, they helped themselves to grain, horses, bacon, molasses, and sugar. Wise and Adam Littlepage soon butted heads over the fact that Littlepage continued to operate his cooperage business and his general store instead of joining the Confederate troops. Wise called Adam a “Yankee sympathizer who must be taught a lesson,” and demanded that he join the army or his property would be confiscated. He announced that he intended to use the Stone House as his headquarters. General Wise soon presented himself confidently as the door of the Stone House. It was Rebecca Littlepage who came to the door. Upon hearing Wise’s demands that the home be his headquarters, Rebecca (showing no sign of trepidation) told him that the the house was as much hers and it was her husband’s, and that she would not allow him to enter. Wise left with a threat to “blow the house down over your head.” The general returned later with artillery. A crowd of spectators gathered to watch. As tent poles were put in the ground of the front lawn, Rebecca went around and kicked them down. And as the guns were being wheeling into position, she gathered her children around her on the front steps. Wise gave her two minutes to remove herself and her children, an order that she ignored. An enraged Wise gave the order to open fire, but the captain refused. An enraged Wise marched off, never to return to the Littlepage house. Despite his responsibilities at home, Adam Littlepage soon entered the military on the Confederate side as the quartermaster officer of the Twenty-Second Infantry under George S. Patton’s command. Rebecca and Adam’s seventh child, a girl, was born after Adam left home. Never to return home, Littlepage died in a duel over a saddle. His opponent was also mortally wounded. Rebecca was left a widow with seven children. As the tide of war shifted, her situation become desperate and she relied on her courage and ingenuity to protect herself and her family. During the years of the war, sentries of one army or another were constantly present on Rebecca Littlepage’s property. She fed the soldiers and recognized that it made sense to put away her partisan feelings. After the war, Rebecca was forced to sell some of Adam’s landholdings to pay the taxes on the Stone House. The Littlepage children were taught by a governess who lived in the house, which soon became known as the “Stone Mansion.” When Rebecca died, in 1896 of pneumonia, a giant acorn (carved of the same sandstone as the Stone House) was erected on her grave. The unique marker evokes the memory of a strong-willed, independent woman.

Charleston, like the rest of western Virginia, was contested territory during the early years of the Civil War. Confederate troops attempted to capture and hold the city at several points during the course of the war. A marker at this location tells the history of the first engagement in Charleston. In July of 1861, Henry Wise's Confederates attempted to build a small fort at this location in anticipation of a battle with Union troops under the command of General George McClellan. The owner of the property, Rebecca Littlepage, reportedly denied Wise's demands and successfully compelled the Confederates to both leave and spare her home from destruction as they had originally promised.

Littlepage Mansion-Charleston Civil War Trail

&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;When West Virginia began licensing architects in 1922, John C. Norman, Sr became the seventh African- American to gain a state issued license. He was the first African- American to become a licensed architect and structural engineer.&nbsp;Norman was not a native West Virginian, he was born in New Jersey and would spend his youth in North Carolina. He graduated from North Carolina A&amp;T.&nbsp;Norman had completed his professional education at Carnegie Technical Institute in 1919.1&nbsp;It is not clear why Norman chose to settle in Charleston. In 1924 he married Ruth Stephenson. The couple&nbsp;had one child, John C. Norman, Jr. who would go on to become a medical pioneer in&nbsp;transplants&nbsp;and artificial organs. Ruth Norman taught at Garnet High School. &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;John C. Norman, Sr. designed many buildings in the Kanawha Valley&nbsp;including the Ferguson Hotel and Business Center. The Ferguson included a cafe, movie theater, and convention hall. Other projects in Charleston include the conversion of an existing building into what would become Staats Hospital. Norman design twelve faculty houses at West Virginia State College. He also designed a gymnasium for the West Virginia School for the Colored Deaf and Blind in Institute. Norman designed many of the homes in Charleston's Luna Park neighborhood. Many of Norman's designs have been preserved as the neighborhood is now nationally&nbsp;recognized as the Luna Park Historic District.&nbsp;While Luna Park was only a few blocks from his own home on 2nd Avenue, and he would design many of the houses,&nbsp;Norman would not have been able to live in Luna Park because he was Black.2&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Norman designed many projects in the upper Kanawha Valley including the Connelly Hotel in Gauley Bridge and many buildings and a high school&nbsp;in Montgomery.3 He also designed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Huntington along with Shanklin's Grand Theatre in Ronceverte. Norman would serve his country completing designs for the government while working&nbsp;on projects connected to WWII.4 &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;Respect for John C. Norman transcended race. John C Norman, Jr., his father understood the fact that his work included his having to&nbsp;make accommodations to racial segregation.&nbsp;One example is Shanklin's Grand Theatre in Ronceverte. The theater was constructed with racial segregation&nbsp;in mind. Though it made accommodations for the hearing impaired, it was designed with separate stairs so white patrons would not have to walk with Black patrons.5&nbsp;Norman maintained his dignity and continued to design exceptional structures. &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;The Normans were active in civic affairs. John was a member of the Knight's of Pythias, and a supporter of the NAACP. The Normans were well known nationally and visitors to their home included entertainer and activist Paul Robeson along with vocalists Roland Hayes and Marian Anderson. John C. Norman died in 1967 after struggling for years&nbsp;with a&nbsp;neurological condition.6&nbsp;Norman's architectural drawings are preserved at the West Virginia Archives in Charleston.

     Designed as his private home by Charleston, WV's first African- American architect, John Clavon Norman, Sr, the craftsman structure is a good representation of his work. Norman would design many buildings throughout West Virginia and especially the Kanawha Valley. Segregation was a reality that Norman had to accommodate in completing several designs.John C. Norman, Sr., is the father of the African- American medical pioneer, John C. Norman, Jr. 

John C. Norman Home

James Madison Laidley, a newspaper editor, politician, and prominent salt maker, had this home built in 1852 by William Preston.1 The material used for construction were available on the property or nearby. Wood was cut from the abundant timber standing, bricks were fired from clay found on the property, and the sandstone was taken from a nearby quarry. Brick used in construction is recorded as being 18 inches thick, or the thickness of three bricks. The exterior of this Greek Revival home is accented with a carved dentil cornice across the front. Sandstone block is used for the foundation. The Laidley family lived in a smaller four-room brick structure during the construction of Glenwood, This structure became the slave quarters, most likely for domestic slaves. There were smaller, less substantial structures throughout Glenwood's 366 acres for field slaves. Upon completion of the 12-room, two story home, Laidley named the home "Glenwood" for the nearby rock-strewn glen cut by a stream. This was a popular location during the summer for people in the area to visit as it was always cooler in temperature than elsewhere.  In 1857, Judge George Summers purchased Glenwood.2 Summers was an active politician. He served as a representative to the 1850-51 Constitutional Convention in Richmond, ran for governor as a Whig in 1851, and in 1852 became a circuit judge in Kanawha County, a post he held when he purchased Glenwwod. George Summers and his wife, Amacetta, lived at Glenwood until their deaths in 1868 and 1867, respectively.

One of Charleston's oldest homes, this beautiful antebellum residence is located on the West Side directly across the street from Stonewall Jackson Middle School. It is possibly the only antebellum home with slave quarters still standing in the Kanawha Valley, a structure that is located directly behind the home and known as "The Quarters."


Glenwood 

C.C. Watts was a Confederate soldier during the Civil War and was part of “Mosby’s Raiders,” the illustrious 43rd Battalion Virginia Cavalry. Post war time found Watts studying law and relocating to Wyoming County in West Virginia to then practice law. He held the office of Wyoming County prosecuting attorney 1873 to 1875. Afterward, he again relocated, this time to Charleston, West Virginia. After being elected to the position, Watts served as Attorney General of West Virginia, 1881-1885. The following year, he served as the United States Attorney for the District of West Virginia. 1890 found Watts being elected to the West Virginia Senate where he served for two years. Eventually Watts stopped being involved in politics and started practicing law again.Watts obtained the title “General” from the time he served as Attorney General. General Watts died in 1930 at his home Breezemont.Breezemont was built circa 1905 on Watts Hill. It is said that Watts build the home as a rival to the “Sunrise” mansion owned by William A. MacCorkle. The home is also a remaining piece of Neo-Classical architecture in Charleston. In 1941, the home was separated in apartments. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, restored in 1988, and then sold in 2000. Breezemont can be seen from the street. Please be careful not to trespass on the property as it is a private residence.

Breezemont, also known as the General C.C. Watts House is located at 915 Breezemont Drive in Charleston, West Virginia. The historic home was built circa 1905 by Cornelius Clarkson Watts and sits on the top of Watts Hill in Charleston. Watts was a noteworthy person in Kanawha County and West Virginia history.

Breezemont

Famously referred to as "The Home"
to African-American women living in Charleston to either work in the city,
obtain and education or both, the Lee Home was a multi-purpose structure. It
was a boarding house, a center for social and community events, a place to
enroll in some classes and Day Camps. Prior to 1915, Rev. Herman Francis Gow of
the St. Paul's African Methodist Episcopal Church was concerned for young
African-American women who needed housing as well as a place for social events.
Disheartened after a few years of failure, he was helped by Ms. Rebecca
Bullard, a local teacher. Together they, along with many friends and prominent
African-Americans of the area, came together and raised funds for a structure
to be built, which was completed in 1915.

The Mattie V. Lee home was established by
Carolyn Jenkins, W. Gaston Caperton, Malcolm Jackson, Harrison B. Smith, Frank
Woodman, Katie Bell Abney, Edward W. Knight, Reverend Herman Francis Gow, and Rebecca
Bullard in the fall of 1915. Prior to the existence of this structure, the home
was located at 1007 Quarrier Street. Much of the new home’s furniture was
donated by Mattie V. Lee’s husband. The first matron of the Mattie V. Lee home
was Mrs. Dorsey, who shortly resigned and was replaced by her former assistant,
Mattie Moss. 

As Dr. Mattie V. Lee retired from being a
physician, she focused on fighting for social justices in her local
environment. The home was named in her honor to thank her for her good deeds
pertaining to the home and the local community. The home on Quarrier Street
only housed 12 women, and only lasted 5 years. Local businesses came together
to donate the money needed to purchase the home at 810 Donnally Street. In
1920, the new home opened its doors to the community. In 1958, the United Way
started funding the Mattie V. Lee Home to assist with upkeep, and the home also
started accepting white women as well. In 1988, the home was renovated and
expanded to become a better outreach program. Today the Mattie V. Lee Home
still provides shelter to those in need, and serves the purpose of being an
addiction treatment facility through the Prestera Center. The home was placed
on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

Mattie V. Lee was the first African American woman physician from the state of West Virginia, and was heavily involved in efforts to provide housing for female students and as a center for social events. The Mattie V. Lee house was established in 1915 as a safe haven for African American girls who relocated to Charleston, WV in search of employment. Historically, the home served as a social, religious, and cultural center, as well as helping in the process of residents becoming employed. Today the Mattie V. Lee Home is an addiction treatment center for the Prestera Center. 

Mattie V. Lee Home

The Harden-Gilmore house was constructed in 1900 by an Italian immigrant and contractor, Dominic Minotti. Minotti also built the piers on the bridges that connect Kanawha City and South Charleston with Charleston. After several years of retirement, Minotti passed away in 1925. In the mid-1930s, Minotti’s wife passed away and the house became a boarding house for a brief period, and was then put up for sale. Elizabeth Harden Gilmore, the first woman to be a licensed funeral director in Kanawha County, purchased the home in 1947.Elizabeth Harden Gilmore bought the home, with her husband, when she was in her late 30s. They remodeled it to serve as both their home and funeral parlor, Harden and Harden Funeral Home. The ownership of the Black funeral home in Charleston, WV, gave Gilmore a sense of recognition as a leader in the Black community. Gilmore took this leadership seriously, and became a key figure in the civil rights movement in West Virginia. Gilmore fought for her daughter’s right to be admitted into Camp Anne Bailey. Her daughter’s Girl Scout troop was the first African American group to be admitted into the camp. Gilmore also co-founded the local chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality, or CORE, in 1958. Serving as the co-chairman and the executive secretary of CORE, Gilmore led the efforts of a sit-in at the local Diamond Department Store. After a year and a half long fight, Gilmore and CORE successfully convinced The Diamond to open their lunch counters to African-Americans. Elizabeth Harden Gilmore was active in an impressive number of civic organizations. She founded a women’s club in the early 1950s that opened and operated the first integrated day care center in Charleston. She served on the community welfare council and on the Executive Board of the Citizens Committee for a West Virginia Human Rights Law, a grassroots organization formed to achieve the passage of an enforceable civil rights law. Due to the efforts of that organization, the state civil rights law were amended in 1961. She was a member of the Charleston Chamber of Commerce (serving on their education task force), an adviser to the Volunteer Service Bureau, and a charter member of the Kanawha Valley Council of Human Relations. During her time on the council, she served as the group’s first Vice President, participated in their Panel of American Women (a public forum focused on race and religion), and worked to get African Americans into homes and neighborhoods that had excluded them in the past through the Clearing House for Open Occupancy Selection Effort. She also participated in the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. In 1969, Gilmore became the first African American appointed to the West Virginia Board of Regents, and eventually served as the vice president and then president. <blockquote>"I am convinced of the efficiency of direct action. If our people had used it a generation or two ago, we wouldn't be witnessing the things today that shock and sadden people of all races." - Elizabeth Harden Gilmore1</blockquote>

Elizabeth Harden Gilmore was a Charleston funeral director and a pioneer in the civil right movement in West Virginia. Gilmore was a leader and one of the founders of the local chapter of Congress for Racial Equality (CORE) that led sit-ins throughout Charleston. She also worked to secure the admission of African American Girl Scouts into the previously all-white Camp Anne Bailey. Gilmore led the first sit-in against the Diamond Department Store’s lunch counter in Downtown Charleston. Thanks to her leadership, the store opened the lunch counter to African American patrons in 1960. In 1988, Gilmore's home was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Efforts continue to restore the home and operate it in a way that honors Gilmore's legacy. 

Elizabeth Harden Gilmore House

Samuel Starks was born in Charleston, WV in 1866, where he attended the local African American schools before working as a janitor in the Kanawha &amp; Michigan Railroad offices. While being employed at the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad, he taught himself telegraphy with equipment he purchased with a friend. After a brief stint as a telegrapher in Charleston, Starks moved to Chicago to study stenography and bookkeeping. After working in Denver, Colorado, Starks returned to Charleston where he employed himself in various jobs such as working in a grocery store, a theater, and for a newspaper. The Majestic Theatre where Starks was employed was a moving picture and vaudeville theatre for African Americans, and was located at #14 Summers Street.In September of 1892, Starks formed the West Virginia Grand Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, a leading secret African-American fraternal organization. Many African-Americans who were members of Pythias in the 1860s formed a Black only fraternity after the laws of the land "kicked them out" of the Pythias Order. The Black Knights of Pythias was an important social organization for African Americans that instilled a sense of community among Blacks and promoted business, social, and civic activities. Starks was grand chancellor of the state organization from the time of its inception. He became the national vice chancellor in 1897 and national supreme chancellor in 1901. The order's national membership grew from 9,000 to 146,869 under Starks' leadership as supreme chancellor. In 1905, the Charleston chapter of the Knights of Pythias built a structure to house their offices and lodge rooms, as well as a barber shop, grocery store, and pharmacy. The building was located on the corner of Washington and Dickinson Streets, but was later razed and is now the location of a parking lot.The importance of southern West Virginia's African-American vote increased as the region's Black population grew in the 1890s and early 1900s. Politicians turned to various Black civic leaders to organize voters. In Charleston, Samuel Starks, along with James Hazelwood and Phil Waters, became significant players in the Republican Party. For his efforts, Starks was named state librarian by Governor A. B. White in 1901 and was reappointed by Governor William M. O. Dawson in 1905.Starks died suddenly in 1908 of peritonitis at the age of 42. Many Black-owned businesses closed in his honor. Starks' funeral was attended by thousands and speeches were given by Governor Dawson and the West Virginia Colored Institute President J. McHenry Jones. In 1911, the Knights of Pythias placed a thirty-two-foot monument on his grave in Charleston's Spring Hill Cemetery. Starks' home on Shrewsbury Street is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

This site was home to Samuel Starks, a prominent African-American leader in the Knights of Pythias organization. Built in 1908 in what was largely a historically Black community, Samuel Starks was only able to live in the house for a number of months, for he died the same year the house was completed. Under his tutelage, Starks and the Knights of Pythias were successful in acquiring properties to assist Black business owners and entrepreneurs nationwide with aspirations of land ownership. Sam Starks became West Virginia’s first Black state librarian in 1901. The house was severely damaged by fire in 1981, but was repaired and restored. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. In 2018 the abandoned home caught fire twice in a week, causing the structure to be demolished.

Samuel Starks House

Sunrise Mansion, also known as the MacCorkle Mansion, was built
in 1905. After West Virginia's ninth governor ended his four-year term in 1897, he
dedicated his focus to family and personal interests that inc;luded construction of Sunrise. It is named after MacCorkle's childhood home in
Rockbridge County, VA.&nbsp; 

The Sunrise Mansion is one of the best-known homes in Charleston, WV. This Georgian style home, with its three stories and
36 rooms, overlooks downtown Charleston. Windows on the front of the home are place
symmetrically, while those on the rear (south side) are&nbsp;not. The stones on the front are different
than the south side, also. Stones on the south side were collected by
William MacCorkle as he traveled through the United States; each is&nbsp;cut
to fit into the building and engraved to show their origins. The fireplace in
the home has a variety of stones which MacCorkle&nbsp; collected in his world travels, including examples&nbsp;from Egypt, China, Rome, and Versailles. Each of
these stones were cut to fit and engraved to show their origins. Not only is the home significant for its architecture, it is significant for MacCorkle's political career.&nbsp;

Governor MacCorkle was a prominent lawyer in the Charleston
area before being elected&nbsp;ninth governor of West Virginia in 1892. He graduated from
Washington and Lee University in 1879 and began practicing law in Charleston.
At the age of 35 he was elected governor of West Virginia. Once his
term expired he built Sunrise Mansion, but did not retire from public
office. He served as a state senator for a term and wrote many books.&nbsp;

During the construction of Sunrise Mansion in 1905 a trail was built to the nearby C&amp;O Railroad depot, and the remains of two women spies were found. These women were allegedly convicted of spying during the Civil War and shot on the spot. They were buried where they lay, but in 1905 their
bodies were found and had to move to make way for the trail. They are now
buried opposite the marker that marks their graves. There is another markerfarther up the .6 mile Carriage Trail that commemorates William MacCorkle's daughter, Isabelle, who&nbsp;died from
injuries sustained in a car accident. . William MacCorkle died in 1930 of pneumonia. His ashes, which were put into a bronze urn, were originally ncorporated into the monument for his daughter but have been relocated to Spring Hill Cemetery.&nbsp;

MacCorkle's&nbsp;heirs sold Sunrise to the&nbsp;Salvation
Army in 1945. The Sunrise Foundation, Inc. bought Sunrise in 1961.
The&nbsp;Foundation created a successful science and art museum until moving to
the Avampato Discovery Museum at the Clay Center&nbsp;for the Arts and Sciences
in 2003. The home is now owned by the law firm Farmer, Cline, and Campbell and
used as their law offices.

Sunrise was built 1905 for West Virginia's ex-governor, William A. MacCorkle. The estate stands on a sprawling 15-acre property, and is connected to the Sunrise Carriage Trail that runs from the nearby South Side Bridge to the mansion. Along the trail to the mansion there are two historic markers, one for two women spies who were shot and killed during the Civil War and one for MacCorkle’s daughter who died from injuries sustained in a car accident. The mansion was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

Sunrise Mansion

Bird Haven was the longtime home of Israel Johnston, a prominent figure in Charleston, West Virginia's history. Along with owning a local business on Virginia St. downtown, Johnston served as a state ornithologist and maintained a well-populated bird sanctuary on his South Hills property. It is one of many houses listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the South Hills area of Charleston that feature rural housing developments combining late Victorian styles along with bungalow cottage elements, making it a prime example of early architecture and design in this region.

This Charleston home was built in 1895 for Israel N. Johnston, who served as state ornithologist for many years. Owing to Johnston's nickname of "The Bird Man" owing to his work, ownership of many birds who shared this home, and his authorship of the 1923 book "Birds of West Virginia, this home became known as "Bird Haven." Johnston also owned and operated a tailor shop at 308 Virginia Street in Charleston. The home is one of the oldest frame-built houses in the area and exhibits late Victorian features such as a 3-sided front bay window and a front and back parlor area. It is a bungalow-style home with painted clapboard and multiple gables.

Bird Haven

The Barnes-Wellford House exemplifies an early 1920s-era home located in a growing rural setting of Charleston, West Virgina. It was built in the English cottage style and originally owned by Bernard Barnes, a wealthy businessman and his wife, Dorothy Dyer-Barnes. Bernard was an executive in the Pennsylvania Life Insurance Company and the original owner of the land on Barnes place, but later sold sections of the property to various parties. The Barnes home was purchased by Landon C. Wellford and his wife Elizabeth in 1951. The house is located in the South Hills Multiple Resource historic area and is located on Abney Circle North. The property is privately owned and not open to the public.

The Barnes-Ford House was built in 1923 by Fred Crowthers for Bernard Barnes. Crowthers was an English born architect who plied his trade in the Charleston area and is known for the Manor Place Apartments located in the East End Historic District. He also constructed the Merrill house located in South Hills.  

Barnes-Wellford House

Dalgain was built in 1916 as a wedding gift for the daughter of Charles Ward, founder of Ward Engineering Works in Charleston, WV. Due to his prominence in the area and that of the husband-to-be, Robert E. McCabe, who was a influential lawyer in Charleston, the services of well known architect H. Rus Warne were employed to create this early example of a rural house in the South Hills area. One year after completion of Dalgain, a second house was built for Charles Ward called Stoneleigh, which is across the road. Dalgain was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. It is a private residence and&nbsp; remains in the McCabe family.

Dalgain is an early 20th century home in the South Hills neighborhood of Charleston, WV that was designed by H. Rus Warne. It is an American four square design featuring Italianate influences. The house was built as a wedding gift for Robert McCabe and his wife Margaret Fleming Ward. 

Dalgain 

Bougemont was constructed circa 1916 by Harrison Brooks
Smith. Mr. Smith was an attorney with Price, Smith, and Spilman law firm and also
president of Kanawha Banking and Trust. After Smith passed away in 1942, the
house changed hands and was bought in 1959 by Horace Hamilton Smallridge,
a businessman in Charleston. In 1984, Bougemont was added to the National
Register of Historic Places. 

Bougemont is a private residence and not open to public viewing.

Bougemont is an historic home constructed ca. 1916 and located on Bougemont Drive in Charleston, West Virginia. 

Bougemont 

Born in Clayton, Alabama, Justus Collins began his career as the supervisor of the convict
mine laborers, working for the Woodward Iron Company. &nbsp;Around 1887, he left Woodward as
secretary of treasury and moved north to the new "smokeless
coalfields" of West Virginia. Shortly after his arrival in West Virginia, he
organized the Louisville Coal and Coke Company. Collins went on to open many
companies, including the Collins Colliery, Whipple Mine and Greenbrier Coal and
Coke. His iconic octagonal buildings were found at both the Collins Colliery
and Whipple Mine where it now serves as a local landmark. After selling the Collins’
and Whipple mines to New River Company, he went on to organize the Superior
Pocahontas Coal. In 1910, he pioneered the Winding Gulf Coalfields with Winding
Gulf Colliery. By 1929, he consolidated all of his mining properties into
Winding Gulf Colliery Companies. Despised by workers and feared by competition,
Justus Collins used integration and diversity in mines as tools to prevent
miners from unionizing.&nbsp;Justus Collins moved to Charleston, where his house has since
become a local landmark. Built in 1897, the Queen Anne-style brick house
is now owned by the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, and is part of the Downtown
Charleston Historic District. The house was added to the National Register of
Historic Places in 2006.

Justus Collins (December 14, 1857-October 18, 1934) made a lasting impression on West Virginia as a coal operator. Known for his octagonal company stores, he brought work to the "smokeless coalfields" of West Virginia. His house stands at 1116 Kanawha Blvd. E. in the Charleston (WV) Downtown Historic District.

Justus Collins Home 

"This American four-square style house was constructed in 1903 for William A. Ohley, West Virginia secretary of state from 1890 to 1893, and an investor in the Pocahontas Land Company. The house was built by brothers John and Wayland Davidson who became well known for the design and construction of large homes in Charleston. The house is part of the Downtown Charleston Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. The house now is occupied by a law firm."1 THE ELECTION OF 1888 Like the Governor he served, William A. Ohley only fulfilled his post as West Virginia Secretary of State for three years instead of the customary&nbsp;four-year term. In the gubernatorial election of 1888, Democratic candidate Aretas B. Fleming ran a narrow race against Republican and West Virginia Representative Nathan Goff, Jr.&nbsp; Initial counts pronounced Goff the winner but were so close that Fleming was able to successfully contest the results. Both men were sworn in as governor in different locations on inauguration day that year, but multiple vote recounts proved inconclusive as the state sought to resolve the matter. In the meantime, as the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals had determined the election results to be incomplete, outgoing governor Emmanuel Wilson refused to leave office in favor of either candidate. Goff even demanded to be allowed to assume the governorship at gunpoint, sparking an armed standoff at Wilson's offices. Finally, the matter was handed over to the state legislature which, being comprised primarily of Democrats, duly elected Fleming in late 1889.&nbsp; The new governor took office in early 1890 along with the rest of his administration, William A. Ohley among them. AMERICAN FOURSQUARE HOUSES Though it constituted a significant movement in the American architecture of its day, what has become known as the "American foursquare" style had no name until 1982, when it was given the sobriquet in an article in Old-House Journal. Arising as an aesthetic counterreaction to the heavily ornamented Victorian style which dominated the era, the foursquare&nbsp;house was visually minimal and highly economical to construct. The average home was nearly square and its ground floor usually consisted of four rooms. Most are simple in ornamentation, though many borrow&nbsp;from the Arts &amp; Crafts, Prairie, and Colonial styles. Common features are large windows, wide porches, hipped (steep, pyramidal) roofs, and attics with dormer windows. The style was so well-suited to mass production that many companies like Sears and Aladdin offered mail-order versions, which would be shipped to the customer in a boxcar with instructions for assembly. The aesthetic proved so popular in its heyday that even architects like Frank Lloyd Wright designed versions of their own.

This historic home, constructed for W.A. Ohley, is typical of the "American foursquare" style popular between 1890 and 1930.  As part of incoming West Virginia governor Aretas Fleming's cabinet, Ohley witnessed the infamous "Four Governors" episode during the most contested election in the state's history. 

William A. Ohley House

Born in Wisconsin in 1849, Frank Woodman moved to Charleston in 1875 and within a few years was moving in prominent business circles. Eventually he was to own stakes in industries as diverse as brick-making, furniture, wool, lumber, iron, and railroads.&nbsp; He even owned 24 shares in the Charleston Water Works Company&nbsp;when it was incorporated in February 1885. On June 26, 1891, he is noted in an issue of Railroad Gazette for being elected as a director on the rail line of "Charleston, Glendening (Clendenin) &amp; Sutton,"8 which had been chartered only a month before.&nbsp; Its track would later be acquired in 1902 by railroad magnate and philanthropist <a href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=45841" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Henry Gassaway Davis</a> for the Coal &amp; Coke Railway extending from Charleston to Elkins. Ever the entrepreneur, Woodman is noted again in Railroad&nbsp;Gazette on Dec. 11, 1891 for having filed incorporation articles for the Cincinnati Iron Company, alongside his business partners. Small wonder the "Frank Woodman House," as it came to be known later, was built in this auspicious year. The style in which the house is built, commonly referred to as "Queen Anne," was a Victorian offshoot immensely popular from 1880 to 1910. Despite being named after the English queen of the early 1700s, the original English "Queen Anne Revival" is actually a stylistic quotation of architecture from the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, and has very little to do with the Baroque structures of Queen Anne's time. In the mid-1870s, the fad was picked up by American architects, who soon bestowed upon it some of the hallmarks for which it is remembered. In fact, the asymmetrical facades typical of the American Queen Anne style are a break from the more formal exteriors of their English contemporaries. The style often includes towers (round, square, or polygonal), differing wall textures, classical columnns and painted balustrades, among many other highlights. Though its popularity peaked after 1900, elements of American Queen Anne design have been incorporated into other forms ever since. The house is privately owned and currently home to a law firm.

An exemplary sample of American Queen Anne architecture, this house overlooking the Kanawha River was commissioned by powerful businessman Frank Woodman in 1891. Woodman had a hand in most of the industries of the Kanawha Valley by the 1890s, and was even a director of the Charleston Clendenin & Sutton Railroad alongside future West Virginia governor William MacCorkle.

Frank Woodman House

Due
to its safe elevation above&nbsp;the temperamental Kanawah&nbsp;River, the property upon which Henry Devol MacFarland's house would be built was deemed suitable in 1831.&nbsp;&nbsp;William Whitteker selected the site and his brother, Norris Whitteker, was responsible
for building the house. The Whittekers were noted builders in the antebellum Kanawha Valley,&nbsp;and constructed many other early homes in Charleston. "If a Whitteker
built it, then there was nothing more to be said--it was a good house,"5 and indeed Norris Whitteker may have even manufacturing the bricks for the house with his own hands.6Though little remains in the historical record of Henry D. MacFarland, his&nbsp;brother James was prominent businessman and&nbsp;banker, largely responsible for establishing a branch of
the Bank of Virginia in Charleston in 1832. The branch would later burn&nbsp;down during Union Colonel Lightburn's retreat from Charleston in September 1862, when Confederate forces took the city. The fire also consumed James Macfarland's diary, which he had kept scrupulously for 50 years.By 1851, the house was occupied by the family of John C. Ruby II, who had married Mary Frances Noyes. Noyes' father, the wealthy Bradford Noyes, had made his fortune in the salt-making business that was Charleston's first great industrial boom. The Ruby family, like many of the Charleston business elite, were Confederate sympathizers at the outbreak of the war, and John C. Ruby II soon joined Colonel George Patton's <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=22808">Kanawha Riflemen</a> (later incorporated into the 22nd Virginia Infantry regiment). The son of the house's previous owner, Henry Devol MacFarland Jr., was also a member of the Kanawha Riflemen.When Union forces occupied Charleston in April 1862, the Ruby family fled south for the duration of the war. Confederate troops in turn raided Charleston in September, and a cannonball (likely from Confederate artillery firing from the southern bank of the Kanawha River at Federal troops in the city)&nbsp;crashed through the roof of the Macfarland House.The cannonball was passed down from owner to owner and into the hands of the final private owner of the house, Elizabeth Hubbard. It is on display in the lobby of the house.Ironically their housebuilder, Norris Whitteker, was an ardent Unionist and served as the town's postmaster general for the latter half of the war. Charleston was an important communications hub, and Whitteker is reputed to have posted as many as 40,000 letters in one particularly busy day at the post office.Members of the Ruby family returned to the house in 1865 when the war came to an end. To their surprise, they discovered their vacant home had been converted into a hospital for Union troops. A number of soldiers were still convalescing within, but promptly moved into tents on the front lawn until healed enough to return home.The Ruby family continued to gain prominence in Charleston after the war. John C. Ruby II, who returned to his family after his service in the Confederate army, would be twice elected mayor of Charleston. Sons Bradford and John C. Ruby III, forming a grocery and real-estate firm under the name Ruby Bros.,&nbsp;opened the first wholesale grocery store in the city in 1872.&nbsp;&nbsp;The house was passed through Ruby family members until it was purchased by John B.
Crowley in 1922. A businessman like all the house's previous owners, Crowley underwrote the
construction of the Hotel Kanawha, Holley Hotel, and the Capitol Theater. Though Crowley owned the house for&nbsp;a shorter period than any other family, he made significant remodels during his occupancy. A
sunroom and porte cochere were added during his tenure, and a front
balcony replaced an original gallery.&nbsp;J.W. Hubbard, a grocer like the Ruby brothers before him, purchased the MacFarland-Hubbard
House in 1945. It was passed down to his daughter, Elizabeth Hubbard, upon his
death. Elizabeth was to be the house's last residential occupant.&nbsp;The West Virginia Humanities Council purchased the
home from the First Presbyterian Church in 1999 and immediately began preservation
efforts, taking care that all construction
complied with the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic
Preservation. The structure’s stabilization was the first priority, followed by the installation of modern heating and cooling. The historic restoration on the first
floor created space for exhibits, programs, and meetings. The second floor of
the MacFarland-Hubbard House currently hosts the offices for the West Virginia
Humanities Council.&nbsp;The restoration efforts were made possible with the support
of the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia and the Kanawha County Historical
and Preservation Society.&nbsp;Visitors to the house wishing to tour the interior&nbsp;should use the "Business Entrance" at the rear, where West Virginia Humanities staff members are happy to provide information.

The MacFarland-Hubbard House was built in 1836, and is one of seven remaining homes built in Charleston prior to the Civil War. The home has housed four prominent Charleston families since its construction, including the MacFarlands, the Rubys, the Crowleys, and the Hubbards. In 1861, the home was temporarily used as a Federal medical hospital, even though it was owned by a family with Confederate sympathies. Today the MacFarland-Hubbard House has been restored by the West Virginia Humanities Council, whose offices reside on the second floor. 

MacFarland-Hubbard House; West Virginia Humanities Council 

History of the Children's Home Society In 1899 D.W. Comstock,&nbsp;founder of the Children's Home Society, enlisted the help of West Virginia Governor George Atkinson to contact U.S. Senator and philanthropist Henry G. Davis. Comstock hoped to discuss funding for a temporary home for children in Charleston, West Virginia. Later that year Davis committed to purchasing the first building for $10,000.&nbsp;This original property was located on Washington Street between Brooks and Broads Streets. The family from whom the property had been&nbsp;purchased were sympathetic to the Society's cause, having adopted their youngest daughter Lulu. To safeguard his philanthropic investment, Davis insisted that the deed to the house revert back to him if the property was ever used for anything but the intended purpose as an adoption home. The society would be co-owners of the property along with Mr. Davis. In 1960 Children's Home Society obtained the full title from Davis' heirs. Davis also committed $1,500 for furniture and $1,000 each year for upkeep, and in June of 1900, the home was dedicated as the Davis Child's Transitory Shelter (later shortened to Davis Child Shelter). In the first four years, the shelter served 100 children. Mr. Davis provided a monthly $100 donation for expenses up until his death. His will stated that the society would continue to receive that monthly check from his estate. The society continues to receive Mr. Davis' contribution to this day. The society received most of the children it served via the county courts, but in some instances, parents simply dropped off children at the adoption home. Fortunately, adoption rates were high: in 1902, over 200 families applied for adoption. Most of the adoptive families were engaged in farming or mining. During the 1960s and 1970s, the Charleston society branched statewide, opening offices in Sistersville and Morgantown. In 1978, a new Davis Child Shelter was established in South Charleston through a state government contract to care for neglected, dependent, and abused children. In 1995, the Davis Child Shelter moved to a new facility near Yeager Airport in Charleston. Similar shelters were added in Northfork, Romney, Martinsburg, Daniels, Huntington, Parkersburg, and Fairlea in the 1980s and 1990s.Today the society operates twelve shelters. Each shelter features adoptive services, foster care, and the building serves as an emergency shelter for children from ages 8-18. Previous Owners of the House The Queen Anne-style house in which the Children's Home Society currently resides is on Kanawha Boulevard overlooking the river.&nbsp; Originally built in 1888-1889 as a house for Judge Okey Johnson of the West Virginia State Supreme Court, it was purchased in 1896 by M.T. Davis.&nbsp; He lived there&nbsp;until 1922, during most of which period he served as president of the successful Kanawha Mining Car Company( which later became the present-day Kanawha Manufacturing Company).&nbsp;

Children's Home Society of West Virginia advocates for children in a variety of ways, attempting to educate the people of West Virginia about the problems encountered by children and trying to find solutions to these problems. Children's Home Society is the largest adoption agency in West Virginia and has been serving the state's children for over 100 years. The agency is a non-profit organization that relies on donations, grants, and other funding.

Children's Home Society of West Virginia

When Joseph Ruffner bought his first land holdings along the Kanawha River in 1795, the Kanawha Valley was mostly undeveloped frontier land that was sparsely populated by Native tribes and settlers of European descent. Conflicts between settlers and Native inhabitants were common before the American Revolution, but by the early 1800s, the region attracted settlers.&nbsp;Joseph Ruffner’s family were part of the initial wave of settlers, and he and his descendants played a pivotal role in the industrialization of the Kanawha River. Once minor port&nbsp;named “Charles Town,” the town of&nbsp;Charleston received its charter from Virginia in 1818. Following the Civil War and creation of the state of West Virginia, Charleston became the capital&nbsp;of the new state in the 1870s. Like many settlers in western Virginia in the late 18th and early 19th century, Joseph Ruffner purchased his property in the Kanawha Valley before entering the region. Ruffner was attracted to the area by the region's salt deposits, and after moving his family to their new home from Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, he purchased additional land. Ruffner acquired a&nbsp;thousand acres by the early 1800s. Most of Ruffner's efforts were dedicated to&nbsp;farming rather than mining salt,&nbsp;but he stipulated in his will that his sons would develop the property’s salt assets, or be forced to sell their inherited lands. In 1807, several of Joseph Ruffner’s sons began an industrial-scale salt mining operation in the area near present-day Belle. They were so successful that by 1810, the Kanawha Valley was the United States’ leading region in salt manufacturing, a state of prosperity further cemented by the War of 1812, which cut off salt supplies from England. The “Kanawha Salines” would grow to produce 3.2 million bushels of salt annually--a staggering 160 million pounds. By 1845 they employed, directly or indirectly, roughly 3000 people,3 though a great many of these were slaves leased from local landowners.10 At Queen Victoria’s inaugural 1851 World’s Fair in London, salt from the Kanawha Valley reportedly won the “World’s Best Salt” award.12 Now wealthy from these economic exertions, the fifth Ruffner son, Daniel, built <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=22812">Holly Grove</a> in 1815, which remains Charleston’s oldest surviving house. Daniel’s son Augustus did not follow him into the salt business, however, instead hewing closer to the footsteps of his agriculturally inclined grandfather. Given a plot of land near the intersection of the Elk and Kanawha Rivers (and extending eastward to present-day Ruffner Avenue), Augustus Ruffner chose lumber and farming as his professions and established a lumber mill on the Elk River where the waters’ current was more conducive than the more forceful waters of the Kanawha. Augustus later petitioned the Virginia House of Delegates to be allowed to conduct a ferry business across the Elk River. His petition was denied in 1842. Shortly after marrying in 1834, Augustus built “Cedar Grove” a short distance from his father’s house at Holly Grove. Despite having made his name in lumber, he had this “neat residence”4 constructed of brick. The front of the house features a decorative masonry style called “Flemish Bond,” and the facade contains a number of other visual flourishes that scarcely could have been afforded by any but the socio-economic elite of the Kanawha Valley at the time, of which the prosperous Ruffners comprised a significant number. Though a “steady and good business man, and possessed [of] a bright mind well cultivated,” Augustus Ruffner spent the last 18-20 years of his life in varying states of ill health, finally passing in March 18554 (or November 1857, depending on the source!).5 The house was left to his son, Henry Daniel Ruffner, who had not possessed it long before the Civil War broke out in 1861. Like many families in what was then western Virginia, loyalties were sharply divided between North and South. Henry D. Ruffner, his brother Joel, and his cousin David Ruffner all served in the Confederate Army, as did two of Joel’s sons--whereas their cousin Lewis Ruffner was a staunch Unionist who became a Major General of Union militia and served as a delegate to the Wheeling Convention that later achieved the separation and statehood of West Virginia in 1863. Beginning his Confederate service with Colonel George Patton’s Kanawha Riflemen, Henry D. Ruffner later transferred to the 19th Virginia Cavalry and rose to the rank of Major commanding first Company G, then the 46th Cavalry Battalion, and serving for the duration of the war. He was singled out for “honorable mention” at the<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=15961"> Battle of Droop Mountain</a> late in 1863.11 The unit served with distinction in the 1864 Shenandoah Campaign. By the time the Confederate armies disbanded in 1865, records show Henry D. Ruffner discharged with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He returned to a <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=45961">much-demolished Charleston </a>after the war, but was able to retain the house and some of his original properties. An abortive attempt at silver mining took him briefly to Colorado, but by the 1880s he had returned to Charleston and was contracted to work on the new State Capitol building. The magnificent “Cedar Grove” house of Augustus Ruffner remained in the Ruffner family until 1940, and is now a commercial property. Augustus Ruffner is buried nearby the Ruffner family cemetery, which was later donated to the City of Charleston and modified to make <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=22808">Kanawha Riflemen Memorial Park</a>. Henry D. Ruffner &nbsp;and several of his descendants are buried in <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=14980">Spring Hill Cemetery</a> overlooking Charleston.

One of the last remaining homes built prior to the Civil War in Charleston, the Augustus Ruffner House was constructed in 1834 by lumberman and farmer Augustus Ruffner. The Ruffner family maintained ownership of the home for several generations. The family named the estate "Cedar Grove” in reference to the beautiful stand of trees that surrounded the property. Today, the home is known as one of Charleston's "Seven Sisters," the name residents assign to the seven remaining pre-Civil War homes. Henry D. Ruffner inherited the house upon Augustus’s death in the mid-1850s, though he was forced to leave it while serving in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. The house remained in the Ruffner Family until the 1940s.

Augustus Ruffner House

Joseph Ruffner Sr. and his family arrived in the Kanawha Valley in 1796 after purchasing 502 acres of land encompassing the famous salt spring at the mouth of Campbells Creek after relocating from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Ruffner would go on to own land from Elk River up to the Kanawha, including all of present-day Charleston. Ruffner’s sons, David and Joseph Jr., strongly influenced the progress of the Kanawha Valley. Together the brothers created a salt industry that could produce up to 3.2 million bushels of salt per year.1 David Ruffner was the first to use coal in the manufacture of salt. He went on to become a justice of the peace in the Virginia legislature for 47 years. David Ruffner’s, son, Henry was the author of the “Ruffner Pamphlet” which opposed slavery on the grounds that it threatened the growth of the industry. Daniel Ruffner was the third son of Joseph Sr. and was also involved in the salt industry. He built Holly Grove Mansion in 1815 and named it after the holly trees present on the land. Holly Grove was built to replace the log cabin the Ruffner family had occupied until 1795. The house was originally a part of a plantation encompassing all of the present East End of Charleston and a good portion of downtown. The Ruffner Mansion is a symbol of the family’s success and was built to last—the walls are 18 inches thick! During its early years, the Holly Grove Mansion served as an inn for travelers along the James River and Kanawha Turnpike. Famous guests of the inn are reported to include Henry Clay, Samuel Houston, John J. Audubon, and President Andrew Jackson.  A fire in 1832 ruined much of the original interior of the house. James H. Nash purchased Holly Grove in 1902 and made many changes to the structure, which gave the mansion the appearance still seen today. The Ruffner Mansion was later purchased by the state of West Virginia in 1975; it neighbors the Governor’s Mansion as a part of the Capitol Complex. The house was used for state offices for the Bureau of Senior Services until 2004. A $3 million renovation project was approved in 2014 to make the home safe for tours, make the first floor accessible as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act, and to create a public conference space inside the home 3, but the renovation was canceled, with the exception of stabilization work, due to budgetary concerns3.

Holly Grove Mansion, also known as the Ruffner Mansion, was built in 1815 by Daniel Ruffner, the brother of David, Joseph Jr., and Tobias Ruffner. All were the sons of Joseph Ruffner Sr. and were instrumental in developing a thriving salt industry to the Kanawha Valley in the early 1800s. The Ruffner Mansion served as the home for the family who helped develop the Kanawha Valley while also being a center of industry and commerce during the early 19th Century. Holly Grove Mansion was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and now sits on the West Virginia State Capitol Complex. 

Holly Grove Mansion - Ruffner Mansion

In 1893, when Governor A.B. Fleming was leaving office, he requested that the Legislature appropriate funds for the purchase of a state-owned Governor's Mansion. The legislature responded by providing $22,000 for the next Governor, William MacCorkle, to buy and furnish a residence. MacCorkle purchased a stately frame dwelling situated across from the state capitol building which at that time was located downtown on Capitol Street in Charleston. Before Governor William MacCorkle, governors paid for their own housing expenses while living in the capital city.After the Capitol burned in 1921, the Legislature passed a sales tax to provide revenues for the construction of a new Capitol. The tax also included an appropriation of $100,000 for the construction of a new Governor's Mansion. Governor Ephraim Morgan selected Walter Martens, a Charleston architect, for the project. Martens consulted with Cass Gilbert, who was the architect of the state capitol. Governor Morgan and his wife moved into the new mansion in 1925 with one week left in his term. Mrs. Morgan had the opportunity to give creative input of the interior design of the mansion, which Martens did not protest. When completed, the mansion was reported to cost about $200,000-twice the amount originally planned.The home was constructed in red Harvard brick and the front facade and entrance are supported by Corinthian columns. The rear of the home has a single-story entrance. Both sides of the structure have porches that support second-floor balconies. The porch on the East side of the home is open, and the porch on the West side of the home is closed. The grounds of the home have a garden and loading garage. Servant quarters were built over the garage in 1926.The interior of the mansion is more luxurious that what can be perceived on the outside. Once entering the mansion, you are met with checkered floor tiles made of white Tennessee marble and Black Belgian marble, twin stair cases that lead to the upper floor that has all the First Ladies, and golden colored walls painted to look like Silk Damascus wallpaper. The right of the foyer is the primary living room housing exotic and familiar artifacts and furnishing. The walls are done in a celery palate, the chandeliers were donated to the mansion from the Victorian Crystal Ballroom that was once on Capitol Street in the 1940s, a cherry wood Baldwin Grand piano sits to the back corner of the room with a 150-year-old Qing Dynasty Chinese screen behind it. The oldest artifact on display is a Grandfather clock that is over 300 years old, and was made by Jan Hinkle from Amsterdam. Displayed on the face of the clock gives you the time of day, the date, and the different moon phases of the night.The library of the mansion is where the governor holds most of his private meetings. It is done entirely in White Butternut wood from the state, houses books written by West Virginians and western Virginians, A twin barrel shotgun from the late 1800s sits on the fireplace mantle, which is made of Black and gold Belgian marble. The governor has his own private dining area on the ground floor and living quarters on the first, but the most stunning room is the primary dining quarters. A table that is over 200 years old, made of solid mahogany, and can sit up to 25 guests can be seen when entering, hanged canvases that mold themselves to the wall depict various locations and imagery that show off West Virginian culture and history, and a sterling silver punch bowl from Japan depicts a Asian Dragon on the side to represent power and wisdom.A cabinet set showcases the varieties of dishware that is served at the mansion. All the porcelain comes from the West Virginian Homer Laughlin China Company and the glass is from the Blenko Glass Company. Some dishes are for seasonal decorative use, and others with an 18-karat gold inlay are reserved for more special occurrences. The bottom of the shelf shows silver goblets that not only represent all 55 counties of the state, but were made from 55 different silversmiths from their county.The final rooms are the ballroom and the sunroom. The ballroom is simply used as a secondary living room now, and has a saffron palate for the walls, zinc and copper canter leaves on the fluted column inlays, a fireplace moved from a castle from Ireland, and chandeliers from the Scotts Brother Drug Store, which closed in the 1940s. The sunroom looks to the west and has furniture designed by the same designers of the Greenbrier Resort's interior, Dorthy Draper &amp; Company. The seating has the rhododendron flower with a chocolate palate, and curtains that are done in the classical style that represent the waves coming off the Kanawha River.

The second executive mansion built for the governor of West Virginia in the state's history, this structure was completed in 1925 at a cost of $200,000. The mansion was designed by Walter Martens, a Charleston architect who designed several other buildings on Charleston's East End. The Georgian-Colonial-style home has welcomed national and global dignitaries, ambassadors, public officials, and hosted numerous events to encourage business, support education, and promote the preservation of West Virginia history and culture. 

Historic Homes of Charleston

Stephenson-Toovey House

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information