Ammadelle is a historic house at 637 North Lamar Boulevard in

Oxford, Mississippi Oxford is the List of municipalities in Mississippi, 14th most populous city in Mississippi, United States, and the county seat of Lafayette County, Mississippi, Lafayette County, southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis. A college town, Oxford ...

. Built in 1859, it is an Italianate mansion designed by

Calvert Vaux Calvert Vaux Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, FAIA (; December 20, 1824 – November 19, 1895) was an English-American architect and landscape architect, landscape designer. He and his protégé Frederick Law Olmsted designed park ...

, which he regarded as one of his finest works. It was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

in 1974. and

Description and history

Ammadelle is set on a landscaped parcel on the west side of North Lamar Street south of its junction with Price Street. It is a red brick building, two stories in height, with white

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

trim and black shutters. It has an irregular plan, with porches flanking a projecting central gabled entry pavilion. The porches, single story in height, have Italianate trim and low balustrades above. Windows on the second level are set in round-arch openings, with deeply projecting bracketed cornices above. The entry is recessed deeply within the pavilion, which has an open arch to the left porch. The house was designed by

in 1857, and construction of the building took place between 1859–1861. It resembles another Vaux design apparently never completed for E. S. Hall in

Middletown, Connecticut Middletown is a city in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. Located along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles (25.749504 km) south of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. Middletown is the largest city in the L ...

, dating to earlier in his career.Francis R. Kowsky, ''Country, Park, & City: The Architecture and Life of Calvert Vaux'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 72 Final details were incomplete when the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

started, and the missing details (balconies across the rear, and a wine cellar) were never finished. Vaux was at the time of the commission just 34, and had recently struck out on his own after having worked with

Andrew Jackson Downing Andrew Jackson Downing (October 31, 1815 – July 28, 1852) was an American landscape designer, horticulturist, writer, prominent advocate of the Gothic Revival in the United States, and editor of ''The Horticulturist'' magazine (1846–1852). ...

, a major proponent of the Italianate style. The house was built for Thomas E.B. Pegues. It has been very well preserved, with only minor alterations. Vaux's original plans are with the owner of the building.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places National Historic Landmarks in Mississippi Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi Houses in Lafayette County, Mississippi Houses completed in 1859 Buildings and structures in Oxford, Mississippi National Register of Historic Places in Lafayette County, Mississippi Calvert Vaux designs

Description and history

See also

References