Blandwood Mansion and Gardens

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Blandwood
(U.S. National Historic Landmark)
A. J. Davis designed Tuscan Villa
Location:	Greensboro, NC
Built/Founded:	1844
Architect:	Davis,Alexander Jackson; Conrad,William & Conrad,Joseph
Architectural style(s):	Renaissance, Italian Villa, Other
Added to NRHP:	April 17, 1970
Reference #:	70000455 [1]
Governing body:	State

Blandwood Mansion, originally built as a four room Federal style farmhouse in 1795, is the restored home of two-term North Carolina governor John Motley Morehead (1841-1844) in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina.

Contents 1 History 2 Significance 3 Current Events 4 References

[edit] History

Initially constructed as a two-story, four-room frame farmhouse in 1795, Blandwood was named for its builder Charles Bland. The property was purchased by industrialist Henry Humphries in 1822 for $50. Humphries founded the Mt. Hecla Cotton Mill in 1818, which was reconstituted in 1826 as the first steam-powered cotton mill in North Carolina.

Governor Morehead lived in the house from 1827 until his death in 1866. As a political leader, Morehead hosted numerous intellectuals of the day including Dorothea Dix. During the Civil War, the house served as quarters for Confederate General P. G. T. Beauregard, and after the fall of the Confederacy the house was temporary headquarters for Union Generals Jacob Dolson Cox and John Schofield. North Carolina Governor Zebulon B. Vance surrendered himself to Cox and Schofield in the main parlor of Blandwood on May 2, 1865.

Blandwood had two additions. The first in 1822 expanded the farmhouse from four to six rooms with Federal architecture period details. The second addition was extensive and designed in 1844 by New York architect Alexander Jackson Davis. This addition more than doubled the square footage of the house within a "Tuscan Villa" style wing. The A.J. Davis addition makes Blandwood the oldest standing example of Tuscan Villa (a subtype of Italianate architecture in the United States. The grounds of Blandwood were influenced by landscape architect Andrew Jackson Downing, who used an illustration of Blandwood in his publications to depict appropriate landscaping.

[edit] Significance

Though Blandwood is the oldest building on original foundations in Greensboro (1795), and is a remarkable survivor of urban development in the city, its primary significance is its role as the earliest identified Tuscan Villa in the United States (1844). Architect A. J. Davis designed the building to resemble villas of Tuscany (though he never visited Italy) using wide overhanging eaves, low rooflines, casement windows, and stucco-on-brick veneer.

The building was preserved as a museum in 1966, and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. It was recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1988.

[edit] Current Events

It is owned by the John Motley Morehead Commission as a permanent memorial to the progressive Governor Morehead, and it is managed by Preservation Greensboro Incorporated, a citywide non-profit organization dedicated to historic preservation. Its four-acre grounds include an octagonal Carriage House restored in 1970 as a special events facility. Blandwood is the host of numerous musical events, weddings, historical events, picnics, tours, and school related activities throughout the year.

[edit] References

1. ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2006-03-15).

• Blandwood Mansion and Gardens website
• Mary Lewis Rucker Edmunds. "Governor Morehead's Blandwood and the family who lived there." Privately published: Greensboro, 1976.
• William Bushong. "History of Blandwood: A Research Report presented to The Greensboro Preservation Society." Privately published: 1979.