Built c. 1889 (1889) VLR # 127-6756 Area 1,437 m² | NRHP Reference # 15001045 Designated VLR December 10, 2015 Added to NRHP 2 February 2016 | |
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Location 3102 Bute Lane, Richmond, VA 23221 | ||
Marburg virginia top 5 facts
Marburg is a historic home located in the Carillon/Byrd Park area of Richmond, Virginia. It is the oldest standing residence in this area of Richmond, predating nearby Maymont by 4 years. The house was slated for demolition in 2013 to make way for 6 new homes but was saved by an ardent group of preservationists and the Historic Richmond Foundation. The redesigned development will now incorporate and encircle the existing house. An exterior restoration was completed in 2015 returning the house to its original colors after being stark white for many years. The barn red roof color was also restored. An antebellum 2-room servant cottage survives intact next to the kitchen which pre-dates the house itself by over 30 years (see below).
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History
Built in 1889 by Colonel Charles Euker, the house was named after his hometown of Marburg in Hessen, Germany. Euker was a courier for George Washington Custis Lee during the Civil War and later ran a successful saloon and billiard hall in Richmond. He was later Commandant of the Lee Confederate Soldier's Home, now the site of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. After Euker's ownership, it passed through a series of prominent Richmond families, largely as a summer residence. While alterations and improvements were made until about 1939, Marburg's interior has since been unaltered, yielding a time capsule of untouched authenticity.
Architectural Style
Features of Free Classic Queen Anne style architecture and Folk Victorian predominate the structure. Colonial Revival Style entry doors and surrounds were added in a 1939 renovation influenced by the recent Colonial Williamsburg restoration. Other interesting architectural elements abound including false windows, clipped gables, vertical beading, shingle tile siding, dentil mouldings, and functional exterior shutters. One standout feature is the striking Art Deco brick patio which wraps around the front of the home. It was added in the 1920s while the summer home of U.S. Tobacco Association President Tazewell M. Carrington.
Tenant Farmer Cottage
The land on which Marburg was built was previously part of a larger 90 acre farm called "Beechwood Farm" owned by wealthy merchant Bolling Haxall during the mid-19th century. Haxall did not reside at Beechwood Farm, but instead used it as a tenant farming operation for added income. Maps from the period show several farm structures in the general vicinity of this cottage but all were thought to have been lost over time. Dixon Kerr, a noted window restoration expert who rehabilitated the old windows, discovered they were single hung sashes with mortise and tenon joinery, both of which date to the antebellum period. Gordon Lohr, an architecture expert and past Revolving Fund Manager for the APVA, also reviewed the building and found nails, saw marks, hand-made bricks, and roof ridge boards indicative of the 1840s-1850s period. This 2 room cottage with central chimney was, in all likelihood, used for the tenant farmers and their families. As the Marburg tract was the first parcel to be sold off from Beechwood Farm in 1888, it was likely selected so as to include the cottage to provide servants quarters for the main house given the proximity to Marburg's kitchen wing.