Trisha Shetty (Editor)

Wirtland

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Built
  
1850

VLR #
  
096-0029

Opened
  
1850

Added to NRHP
  
15 March 1979

NRHP Reference #
  
79003097

Designated VLR
  
December 21, 1976

Area
  
6 ha

Wirtland

Location
  
S of Oak Grove on VA 638, near Oak Grove, Virginia

Architectural style
  
Gothic Revival architecture

Wirtland is a historic house in Westmoreland County, Virginia, United States, near the community of Oak Grove. Built in 1850 by William Wirt, Jr., the son of former U.S. Attorney General William Wirt, it has been recognized as a high-quality example of a rural Gothic Revival house of the period. Its historic status was recognized in 1979, when it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Wirtland is a two-story brick house surrounded by an attached 15-acre (6.1 ha) park landscaped in the Victorian style. Constructed in the shape of a cross, the house is built around a central chimney, and multiple porches surround the stucco-covered exterior. The interior includes marble floors on the first story and plaster ceilings for both floors.

After Wirt's death in 1898, the house was owned by his son and daughter-in-law, who ran a boarding school for women in the house; after their ownership, Wirtland passed out of the Wirt family and through a succession of various owners. The years took their toll on Wirtland, which saw deteriorations including the collapse of a major part of the ceiling of one room; however, later owners undertook extensive repairs. Today, the house is considered one of Virginia's most significant houses of its style, and its park, which is also listed on the Register, is one of the few remaining examples of Victorian landscaping.

The property is now owned by Ingleside Vineyards, one of the oldest vineyards in the state. When it was listed on the Register, it was the residence of the vineyard's owner. It is not the only historic house on the property: Ingleside also owns Roxbury, a Victorian house built by another son of Attorney General Wirt in the 1860s; Like Wirtland, Roxbury is listed on the National Register, and it has taken Wirtland's place as the home of Ingleside's owner.

References

Wirtland Wikipedia