Built 1859 Designated NHL May 30, 1974 Area 3 ha Added to NRHP 30 May 1974 | NRHP Reference # 74001064 Opened 1859 Architectural style Italianate architecture Architect Calvert Vaux | |
 | ||
Location 637 North Lamar Street, Oxford, Mississippi Similar Lucius Quintus Cincinnat, St Peter's Episcopal Church, Barnard Observatory, Rowan Oak, Longwood | ||
Ammadelle, in Oxford, Mississippi is an Italianate mansion that was designed by Calvert Vaux, and built by Thomas E. B. Pegues. Final details were incomplete when the American Civil War started, and the missing details (balconies across the rear, and a wine cellar) were never finished.
It is a red brick building with white Italianate trim and black shutters. It was designed in an irregular plan by Calvert Vaux, an architect who had moved to America in 1850 to work with Andrew Jackson Downing and would later work with Frederick Law Olmsted. Vaux was 34 years old, and working independently after Downing's death, when he prepared plans for Ammadelle in 1857. That Vaux thought Ammadelle was one of his best works is suggested by his inclusion of a similar design in the second and third editions of his book Villas and Cottages.
The house is in a very well preserved condition, having been only slightly altered by the replacement of three mantels.
It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974.
Vaux's original plans are with the owner of the building.
It is located at 637 North Lamar Street in Oxford. It "demonstrates that wealthy Mississippians of that era could keep abreast of architectural fashions. The crippled economy which followed so shortly after has protected the environment from destructive development pressures."
