Reverie (Marion, Alabama)
Encyclopedia
Reverie is a historic Greek Revival
mansion
built circa 1858 in Marion
, Perry County, Alabama
. It now serves as a residence and also historic house museum. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
as a contributing property
to the West Marion Historic District
and was recorded by the Historic American Buildings Survey
. It is featured in Ralph Hammond’s Antebellum Mansions of Alabama, Gregory Hatcher’s Reverie Mansion and Gardens, and Jennifer Hale’s Historic Plantations of Alabama’s Black Belt
.
who also owned one of the finest mansions in Alabama, Kenworthy Hall
, located only a few miles away.
Kenworthy shortly sold the house again on April 28, 1863 to David Scott, a merchant and cotton, grist, and saw mill operator and manufacturer. Scott died on August 9, 1868, and left a will recording the furnishings of the mansion at that time. Harrison H. Hurt, son of a prominent merchant and planter, bought the mansion in 1871 at auction for $4,650. Mr. Hurt’s daughter Nellie married Dr. R.C. Hanna and the mansion became known as the Hurt-Hanna House.
After Mrs. Hanna’s death in 1944, the house was sold to Dr. William T. Weissinger, who in the course of a distinguished career had been General Douglas MacArthur
’s physician in the army. Mrs. Weissinger first named the house Reverie which it has remained ever since. Since Dr. Weissinger’s death in 1971, the house has been owned by a number of families, each of which maintained it as a residence.
While the house was owned by David Scott in the 1860’s, Union troops occupied the town of Marion and used the house as their headquarters. Some markings of these troops can be found in the attic.
columns of brick, covered with stucco
, give this Greek Revival mansion it’s monumental appearance. The house features a massive frieze
board with dentil
moldings
which surrounds the entire home. Board siding
and double hung paned windows are all original. A cupola
or belvedere
with classical balustrade sits atop the low-hipped roof and there is also a balcony above the entrance.
The mansion is a standard four-room over four-room house with a spacious central hall and grand, unsupported staircase, but also has two story cabinet rooms on the east and west sides. These flanking rooms were unusual at the time and, together with the portico
, made the design quite distinctive. Two outbuildings survive: the original kitchen, now connected to the house, and a brick smokehouse.
The interior of the Mansion includes elaborate plaster
moldings and medallions, original to house, along with inlaid
flooring of oak
and mahogany
which was added later. The ceiling height downstairs is 14' and upstairs 13' with original heart pine floors in most areas.
In the garden, a Wisteria
arbor is thought to predate the construction of the house by several decades and may be the oldest surviving Wisteria in Alabama. There is also a boxwood
parterre
(knot garden
or maze) which was probably put in sometime after the turn of the 19th century and was restored in recent decades.
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...
mansion
Mansion
A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
built circa 1858 in Marion
Marion, Alabama
Marion is the county seat of Perry County, Alabama. As of the 2000 census, the population of the city is 3,511. First called Muckle Ridge, the city was renamed after a hero of the American Revolution, Francis Marion.-Geography:...
, Perry County, Alabama
Perry County, Alabama
Perry County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. It was established in 1819, and is named in honor of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry of Rhode Island and the United States Navy. As of 2010 the population was 10,591...
. It now serves as a residence and also historic house museum. It is 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...
as 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 West Marion Historic District
West Marion Historic District
The West Marion Historic District is a historic district in the city of Marion, Alabama. The historic district is bounded by West Lafayette, Washington, College, Margin streets, and Murfree Avenue. It features examples of Colonial Revival, Craftsman, Greek Revival, and regional vernacular...
and was recorded by the Historic American Buildings Survey
Historic American Buildings Survey
The Historic American Buildings Survey , Historic American Engineering Record , and Historic American Landscapes Survey are programs of the National Park Service established for the purpose of documenting historic places. Records consists of measured drawings, archival photographs, and written...
. It is featured in Ralph Hammond’s Antebellum Mansions of Alabama, Gregory Hatcher’s Reverie Mansion and Gardens, and Jennifer Hale’s Historic Plantations of Alabama’s Black Belt
Black Belt (region of Alabama)
The Black Belt is a region of the U.S. state of Alabama, and part of the larger Black Belt Region of the Southern United States, which stretches from Texas to Maryland. The term originally referred to the region underlain by a thin layer of rich, black topsoil developed atop the chalk of the Selma...
.
History
The property on which Reverie sits was sold on February 9, 1858 for $4,000, a large sum in that day, to Joseph Thompson Whitsett, a planter (according to the census) and railroad investor. Wartime financial reverses led Mr. Whitsett to sell the mansion on November 28, 1862 for $10,000 to Edward Kenworthy Carlisle, a wealthy cotton brokerBroker
A broker is a party that arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller, and gets a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal...
who also owned one of the finest mansions in Alabama, Kenworthy Hall
Kenworthy Hall
Kenworthy Hall, also known as the Carlisle-Martin House and Carlisle Hall, is located on the north side of Alabama Highway 14, two miles west of the Marion courthouse square. It was built from 1858 to 1860 and is one of the best preserved examples of Richard Upjohn's distinctive asymmetrical...
, located only a few miles away.
Kenworthy shortly sold the house again on April 28, 1863 to David Scott, a merchant and cotton, grist, and saw mill operator and manufacturer. Scott died on August 9, 1868, and left a will recording the furnishings of the mansion at that time. Harrison H. Hurt, son of a prominent merchant and planter, bought the mansion in 1871 at auction for $4,650. Mr. Hurt’s daughter Nellie married Dr. R.C. Hanna and the mansion became known as the Hurt-Hanna House.
After Mrs. Hanna’s death in 1944, the house was sold to Dr. William T. Weissinger, who in the course of a distinguished career had been General Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur
General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the...
’s physician in the army. Mrs. Weissinger first named the house Reverie which it has remained ever since. Since Dr. Weissinger’s death in 1971, the house has been owned by a number of families, each of which maintained it as a residence.
While the house was owned by David Scott in the 1860’s, Union troops occupied the town of Marion and used the house as their headquarters. Some markings of these troops can be found in the attic.
Architecture
Four white DoricDoric order
The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...
columns of brick, covered with stucco
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
, give this Greek Revival mansion it’s monumental appearance. The house features a massive frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
board with dentil
Dentil
In classical architecture a dentil is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice.The Roman architect Vitruvius In classical architecture a dentil (from Lat. dens, a tooth) is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice.The Roman architect...
moldings
Molding (decorative)
Molding or moulding is a strip of material with various profiles used to cover transitions between surfaces or for decoration. It is traditionally made from solid milled wood or plaster but may be made from plastic or reformed wood...
which surrounds the entire home. Board siding
Clapboard (architecture)
Clapboard, also known as bevel siding or lap siding or weather-board , is a board used typically for exterior horizontal siding that has one edge thicker than the other and where the board above laps over the one below...
and double hung paned windows are all original. A cupola
Cupola
In architecture, a cupola is a small, most-often dome-like, structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome....
or belvedere
Belvedere
-General use:* Belvédère , an alcohol related company based in Beaune, France* Belvedere , architectural term for a structure designed to incorporate a view* Earl of Belvedere, an Irish peerage from 1756 to 1814...
with classical balustrade sits atop the low-hipped roof and there is also a balcony above the entrance.
The mansion is a standard four-room over four-room house with a spacious central hall and grand, unsupported staircase, but also has two story cabinet rooms on the east and west sides. These flanking rooms were unusual at the time and, together with the portico
Portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...
, made the design quite distinctive. Two outbuildings survive: the original kitchen, now connected to the house, and a brick smokehouse.
The interior of the Mansion includes elaborate plaster
Plaster
Plaster is a building material used for coating walls and ceilings. Plaster starts as a dry powder similar to mortar or cement and like those materials it is mixed with water to form a paste which liberates heat and then hardens. Unlike mortar and cement, plaster remains quite soft after setting,...
moldings and medallions, original to house, along with inlaid
Inlay
Inlay is a decorative technique of inserting pieces of contrasting, often coloured materials into depressions in a base object to form patterns or pictures that normally are flush with the matrix. In a wood matrix, inlays commonly use wood veneers, but other materials like shells, mother-of-pearl,...
flooring of oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
and mahogany
Mahogany
The name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored hardwood. It is a native American word originally used for the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban mahogany....
which was added later. The ceiling height downstairs is 14' and upstairs 13' with original heart pine floors in most areas.
In the garden, a Wisteria
Wisteria
Wisteria is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae, that includes ten species of woody climbing vines native to the eastern United States and to China, Korea, and Japan. Aquarists refer to the species Hygrophila difformis, in the family Acanthaceae, as Water Wisteria...
arbor is thought to predate the construction of the house by several decades and may be the oldest surviving Wisteria in Alabama. There is also a boxwood
Buxus
Buxus is a genus of about 70 species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood ....
parterre
Parterre
A parterre is a formal garden construction on a level surface consisting of planting beds, edged in stone or tightly clipped hedging, and gravel paths arranged to form a pleasing, usually symmetrical pattern. Parterres need not have any flowers at all...
(knot garden
Knot garden
A knot garden is a garden of very formal design in a square frame, consisting of a variety of aromatic plants and culinary herbs including germander, marjoram, thyme, southernwood, lemon balm, hyssop, costmary, acanthus, mallow, chamomile, rosemary, Calendulas, Violas and Santolina...
or maze) which was probably put in sometime after the turn of the 19th century and was restored in recent decades.