Holladay House
Encyclopedia
Orange, Virginia
Orange is a town in Orange County, Virginia, United States. The population was 4,721 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Orange County...
(c.a. 1830) is on the nationally recognized Journey Through Hallowed Ground. Named for Dr. Lewis Holladay, a prominent Virginia physician, the Holladay House has witnessed almost two centuries of American history. The building is historically significant because it is one of only a few antebellum
Antebellum architecture
Antebellum architecture is a term used to describe the characteristic neoclassical architectural style of the Southern United States, especially the Old South, from after the birth of the United States in the American Revolution, to the start of the American Civil War...
structures still standing in Orange, Virginia
Orange, Virginia
Orange is a town in Orange County, Virginia, United States. The population was 4,721 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Orange County...
.
Since approximately 1830, the Holladay House has served as a mercantile store, a residence, a doctor’s office, and a Virginia bed and breakfast
Bed and breakfast
A bed and breakfast is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast, but usually does not offer other meals. Since the 1980s, the meaning of the term has also extended to include accommodations that are also known as "self-catering" establishments...
inn. In the early 20th century, a private schoolhouse for local children was also on the property. Only a handful of proprietors have owned the home, and the Holladay family was its steward for over 100 years. The Holladay House still boasts much of its original woodwork, including floors, mantels, doors and period antiques from the Holladay family.
Now a Virginia bed and breakfast
Bed and breakfast
A bed and breakfast is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast, but usually does not offer other meals. Since the 1980s, the meaning of the term has also extended to include accommodations that are also known as "self-catering" establishments...
inn, the Holladay House is one of the two oldest standing structures in historic downtown Orange, and is a contributing property
Contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...
to the Orange Commercial Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. It has been a landmark on Main Street for generations.
Architectural features
The Holladay House can best be described as a brick structure built in the classic Federal architectural styleFederal architecture
Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the United States between c. 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815. This style shares its name with its era, the Federal Period. The name Federal style is also used in association with furniture design...
, with Greek Revival
Greek Revival architecture
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...
and Victorian-era upgrades to both the interior and the exterior. The brick is laid in Flemish-bond
Brickwork
Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar to build up brick structures such as walls. Brickwork is also used to finish corners, door, and window openings, etc...
, although the pattern is inconsistent in some places. The property contains two historical links to Montpelier
Montpelier (James Madison)
Montpelier was a large tobacco plantation and estate of the prominent Madison family of Virginia planters, including James Madison, fourth President of the United States. The manor house of Montpelier is four miles south of Orange, Virginia, and the estate currently covers some...
, President James Madison's plantation home: the main entrance, and the English Oak tree in the backyard. This is not surprising because one of the early owners of the Holladay House was John Madison Chapman, a grand-nephew of President James Madison
James Madison
James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
. The door at the main entrance on the front of the Holladay House is a duplicate of the front door of Montpelier
Montpelier (James Madison)
Montpelier was a large tobacco plantation and estate of the prominent Madison family of Virginia planters, including James Madison, fourth President of the United States. The manor house of Montpelier is four miles south of Orange, Virginia, and the estate currently covers some...
. According to the staff at Montpelier, this doorway was designed by Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
. In addition, local legend holds that the large English Oak tree behind the Holladay House came from the Montpelier grounds.
Antebellum history
In 1821, Samuel Dinkle purchased a lot from Paul Verdier in Orange, VirginiaOrange, Virginia
Orange is a town in Orange County, Virginia, United States. The population was 4,721 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Orange County...
on behalf of the Lynchburg-based mercantile firm, Dinkle & Rumbough. By the early 1830s, Dinkle & Rumbough had built a brick structure on the property, which would later be expanded to become the Holladay House. Their store sold dry goods, groceries, hardware, and hats.
In 1837, John Madison Chapman (1810-1879), a local lawyer, acquired the property. Chapman lived in the house until his death. During his lengthy ownership, Chapman completed numerous Greek Revival and Victorian-era upgrades, including new moulding, chair rails, wooden mantels
Fireplace mantel
Fireplace mantel or mantelpiece, also known as a chimneypiece, originated in medieval times as a hood that projected over a grate to catch the smoke. The term has evolved to include the decorative framework around the fireplace, and can include elaborate designs extending to the ceiling...
, door frames, and a black and gold Port D'Oro (also called Portor or Portoro) Italian marble mantel.
The Holladay family
The McDonald family acquired the property in 1883, and lived there until 1899. Then Dr. Lewis Holladay (1868-1946) purchased the home. At that time, only the brick portion of the house existed, and the Holladays made several additions to the building while they lived there—the two most notable in 1910 and 1917, when the frame structure on the rear of the house was completed. The home remained in the Holladay family for 101 years, which is why the house bears their name.Dr. Holladay served the citizens of Orange County, Virginia
Orange County, Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 25,881 people, 10,150 households, and 7,470 families residing in the county. The population density was 76 people per square mile . There were 11,354 housing units at an average density of 33 per square mile...
as their physician for nearly five decades. Prominently located at the crossroads in the Town of Orange, The Doctor Holladay House (as it was then called) was a familiar landmark in town. Educated at Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden–Sydney College is a liberal arts college for men located in Hampden Sydney, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1775, Hampden–Sydney is the oldest private charter college in the Southern U.S., the last college founded before the American Revolution, and one of only three four-year,...
and the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
, Dr. Holladay was Dean of Physicians for Orange County throughout his medical career. In 1911, he was appointed a member of the State Board of Medical Examiners, where he served until his death. He was the Orange County Coroner, and the company surgeon for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P...
. In addition to his medical career, Dr. Holladay served the town as Director of the National Bank of Orange, and as the ruling elder of Orange Presbyterian Church.
In the 1920s, the Holladays also constructed two new houses and a small schoolhouse on the property. The house on the west side still stands, but the house on the east side was torn down in the 1950s and a new house was built. The schoolhouse is no longer extant.