2021 Home Tour

Flavius Beans Property

Throughout most of its history, Waterford was a relatively isolated community. One result of this isolation was that architectural styles arrived later in Waterford than in many other parts of the country. The Flavius Beans House illustrates this delay. It is a fine example of mid-Victorian architecture, although Flavius Beans did not have it built until about 1890.

The architectural details are more elaborate and “prettier” than would have been the case earlier; for instance, around the edges of the upper sash of each window are small square panes. The gabled pediment along the front roof line has a turned peak ornament at the top and decorative shingles within. The windows in the side pediments have small square panes, also surrounded by decorative shingles. Notice also the jigsaw trim above the bay window and the dentils and brackets. At one point there was probably more of this “carpenter Victorian” trim, which was removed as succeeding owners tried to keep up with the newer styles.

The high style of the Flavius Beans House is evidence of the economic strength of Waterford in the late nineteenth century. It also reflects the availability of commercially cut and sawn timber as a result of the extension of the railroad through nearby Paeonian Springs.

The Flavius Beans House property is open through the courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Ratcliffe.

Walker-Phillips House (#5 on map)

15511 Second Street

Open on Friday: 10am to 5pm

This house has had few owners during its nearly 200-year history. It was apparently built shortly before 1820 when David and Elizabeth Janney, members of the Society of Friends (Quakers), sold it to fellow Quaker farmer and merchant Isaac Walker (1781-1851) for $350. After his death, Walker’s widow, the former Susan Talbott, lived here until her own passing in 1872. Two years later her executors sold it to Elizabeth Janney Sidwell Phillips (1827-1913). Elizabeth, the widow of Thomas Phillips (1813-1865), helped run the family farm, today’s “Phillips Farm,” with her four sons. The Phillips farm adjoins the property at the rear and has been protected in perpetuity by the Waterford Foundation.

Elizabeth Phillips left the house to her son Arthur when she died in 1913. He sold it to Peter H. Carr (1843-1922), a veteran of the Confederate Cavalry and the first non-Quaker owner. In 1941 Carr’s commissioners sold the house to local dairy farmer Ernest M. Edwards. Sarah Holway bought it from Ernest’s descendants in 2014.

The Walker-Phillips property is open courtesy of Sarah Holway and Matt Rasnake.

Pink House Property

In 1825, Lewis Klein opened this building as a tavern. He had purchased the lot from Quaker William Hough a decade earlier for $80. Like many of its neighbors on Main Street, it was designed for mixed use—a store or other business on the ground floor and a residence above. It therefore had no interior staircase between the first and second floors until a 1950s modernization.

The present large downstairs room was built as two rooms with a central corridor; it has seen many uses over the years. After serving as a tavern, the space became variously an apothecary and hardware store. In the 1880s the building was the home and office of Dr. G. E. Connell, an enterprising physician. He introduced the first telephone to the village in 1884 and charged customers ten cents to call the railroad depot at Clarke’s Gap, three miles distant. In the early 20th century, a side addition was used as a barbershop. In the early 1950s, a new owner painted the house the color “of the setting sun on Waterford brick.” The paint was meant to slow weathering of the soft, locally-made brick; it has been repainted in other shades since. In more recent years, the Pink House has been a popular bed and breakfast destination.

The present garden area has seen a succession of buildings over the past 200 years, including blacksmith and wheelwright shops and a succession of stores well into the 20th century. A town hall and informal auditorium occupied the loft area of a large stable on the site. One of these shops stood where the new stone kitchen now stands. That building served briefly as a residence. During an exceptionally rainy period with water pouring down the hill behind, a tenant joked, “I have the most modern house in Waterford— running water in every room!”

The previous owners, Dr. and Mrs. Charles Anderson protected the Pink House with the gift of an easement to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

The Pink House is open through the courtesy of Isaac Johnson and Jeff Darrah.

Charles Merchant House (Garden Only) (#6 on map)

15539 Second Street

Open on Friday: 10am to 5pm (Garden Only)

The land on which this house stands was originally purchased from the “Mahlon Janney Estate” auction in 1814 by Isaac Walker. Later owners included Robert Braden and then William Nettle, the master joiner of Waterford, who died in 1855. The lot then passed to his wife, who died in 1879. The first indication of a building on the property is noted on the 1875 Survey of Waterford, which shows an agricultural or work shop building on the lot. Possibly this initial building was the work shop of Waterford’s master joiner. In 1891, Franklin and Mary Steer sold the property to James T. and Sarah Merchant, who then sold the property to his son Charles A. Merchant in 1906. He and his wife, the former Anna Mary Berry (“Mamie”), who had moved to Washington D.C., returned to Waterford for the health of their infant son Leo and purchased the lot in 1906.

Charles Merchant, a carpenter and painter, contracted with John Spinks, of nearby Paeonian Springs, to build a house. It seems quite possible that the main section of the house was constructed on the foundation of the prior building, and a new stone foundation was constructed for the rear portion of the house. Merchant lived here until the early 1930s. Herb Edwards, a later owner, lived here from 1943 until his death in 1987.

The renovations done by the present owners, Antonia Walker and Timothy H. McGinn, were designed and built by Mr. McGinn. The back of the house, which originally had only one window, has been opened up with two windows and a door to a back porch, orienting the view to the farmland to the west and allowing access to the flagstone patio and herb garden.

There is a new two-story addition just off the kitchen which includes a winter studio for Ms. Walker and bathroom on the second floor. Whenever possible, vintage building materials have been used or recycled to retain the character of the original house. The back door came from the Thomas Moore house on Bond Street and the balustrade of the porch was fashioned from the old kitchen cabinets.

The Charles Merchant House Garden is open through the courtesy of present owners Antonia Walker and Tim McGinn.