First White House of the Confederacy

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
First White House of the Confederacy
National Register of Historic Places
Front facade First White House of the Confederacy (2016)

Front facade First White House of the Confederacy (2016)

First White House of the Confederacy, Alabama
(32 ° 22 ′ 34 ″ N, 86 ° 18 ′ 0 ″ W)
location Montgomery , Alabama
Coordinates 32 ° 22 ′ 34 "  N , 86 ° 18 ′ 0"  W Coordinates: 32 ° 22 ′ 34 "  N , 86 ° 18 ′ 0"  W
Built 1825
Architectural style Italianate style
NRHP number 74000432
The NRHP added June 25, 1974

The First White House of the Confederacy is a historic property in Montgomery , Alabama . After the secession of the southern states , the residence, built in the Italianate style in 1835, served for a few months until the end of May 1861 as the official residence of Jefferson Davis , President of the Confederate States of America . The building has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1974 and is open to the public.

architecture

East side (2009)

The First White House of the Confederacy was built in the Italianate style as a timber frame construction with wooden cladding . The two-story house has two chimney towers integrated into the outer facade at the rear and a one-story smaller side wing with an additional chimney on each side. The building has a width of five window axes and a depth of four. It has a hipped roof and a cornice with teardrop-shaped consoles . The entrance area is formed by a veranda with a width of three windows. The front door is lined with two pillars.

Four rooms lead off the central entrance hall, two lounges to the left and two bedrooms to the right. At the rear there is a smaller hall that opens to the two side wings.

story

The house was probably built in 1825 by William Sayre, who was one of the first traders in the young town. It later came into the possession of Colonel JG Winter. He had the property remodeled and sold it to Colonel Edmond Harrison shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War . In February 1861, the constituted Confederate States of America in Congress from Alabama and certain Montgomery to the first capital of the southern states . In late February, the Confederate Congress authorized the rental of private real estate as service buildings for the new state. One such rental property was the First White House of the Confederacy , which President Jefferson Davis and his wife Varina Davis moved into in early March . The annual rent for the furnished house was just under 5,100 US dollars . Most of the interior was taken over, and the presidential couple brought some furniture back from their previous residence in Biloxi , Mississippi . On May 27, 1861, Davis moved out with his wife again because the capital of the Confederate States was relocated to Richmond , Virginia . After the American Civil War the house fell to William Crawford Bibb and from 1871 to the Tyson family.

In the summer of 1900, a women's organization founded the White House Association , which was subsequently also joined by like-minded men. The association raised money to preserve the house and later to move it, as a gas station was to be built in its original location. In 1919 the State Legislature passed funds to promote this endeavor, approved by Governor Thomas Kilby . After the property was rebuilt in its current location, it was inaugurated as the First White House of the Confederacy in June 1921 and opened to the public. It remains a museum to this day and was registered in the NRHP on June 25, 1974.

Web links

Commons : First White House of the Confederacy  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

literature

Remarks

  1. ^ First White House of the Confederacy in the National Register Information System. National Park Service , accessed July 3, 2021.
  2. ^ W. Warner Floyd: National Register of Historic Places: Nomination Form; here: First White House of the Confederacy. P. 2.
  3. ^ W. Warner Floyd: National Register of Historic Places: Nomination Form; here: First White House of the Confederacy. P. 2.
  4. ^ W. Warner Floyd: National Register of Historic Places: Nomination Form; here: First White House of the Confederacy. P. 3.
  5. ^ W. Warner Floyd: National Register of Historic Places: Nomination Form; here: First White House of the Confederacy. P. 5.
  6. ^ First White House of the Confederacy in the National Register Information System. National Park Service , accessed July 3, 2021.