The house that became an executive mansion

During the Civil War, this country had two White Houses: one at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. and one in Richmond, Va. Visitors to the White House of the Confederacy get a feel for the life and times of Jefferson Davis and his family.

By KAREN M. LASKI

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 23, 2000

RICHMOND, VA, -- No one foresaw the house at 12th and Clay streets becoming the White House of the Confederacy, least of all its owner, Lewis Crenshaw. But when Crenshaw transformed his 1818 neoclassical mansion into a home with a "French flavor," he unwittingly created a setting worthy of its future role.

Crenshaw installed large, heavy pieces of furniture with dark wood frames upholstered in somber shades. Then he added individual furnishings and appointments with decorative motifs representing Rococo Revival.

When Virginia seceded from the Union in April 1861, the capital of the newly formed Confederate States of America was moved from Montgomery, Ala., to Richmond. Crenshaw sold the house and its contents to the city, which leased it to the Confederate government for its official executive mansion.

President of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis, his wife Varina, and their young children occupied the mansion from 1861 to 1865. Two sons and a daughter, ages 2 to 6, moved into the mansion with their parents; another son and daughter were born there.

During those years, the elaborately decorated public rooms served as the military, political and social center of the Southern cause.

After the Davises fled Richmond in the spring of 1865, some looting occurred while federal troops occupied the mansion. A general officer took the bust of "Stonewall" Jackson that adorned the dining room mantel. U.S. Navy Secretary Gideon Welles asked for "a chair from Jeff Davis' house."

In 1870, the federal government auctioned all the furnishings. The mansion served as a school for the next 20 years.

Richmond officials decided to destroy the building in 1889 and replace it with a new one. But the building was saved by a group of Richmond women, the Ladies' Hollywood Memorial Association, whose principal mission until 1890 was maintaining Confederate graves in Richmond's Hollywood Cemetery.

Renaming themselves the Confederate Memorial Literary Society in order to take responsibility for the mansion, the women converted it into a museum, with artifacts and documents representing Confederate history. Many objects sold at the 1870 auction were returned.

By the 1960s, enough furnishings were available to re-create several period rooms. When the Museum of the Confederacy opened next door in 1976, the mansion underwent a restoration. It reopened to the public in 1988, designed to look pretty much as it did in its heyday.

Tours begin in the entrance hall, where two life-size statues of Comedy and Tragedy grace specially created niches. The wallpaper, stenciled to resemble marbled stone, is typical of the faux surfaces popular during the past century. A painted canvas floor was installed to protect the oak flooring from muddy boots.

The dining room, which could seat 23, is the largest and most elegant room in the house. Military and political strategy sessions were as common here as banquets.

The center parlor and drawing room were reserved for entertaining. Gasoliers (gaslight chandeliers) hang from decorative ceiling medallions, maroon-flocked wallpaper adorns the walls, and a horse chestnut-patterned carpet covers the floor.

Davis' library, furnished with rocking chairs and tea tables, was called a "snuggery" by one visiting cabinet member. However, the president's substantial collection of books disappeared, apparently taken by Union soldiers as souvenirs.

The second floor was the family's private quarters (that is, if privacy is possible in a household with five children, 20 servants, a secretary and several military aides). Half the furnishings are original; many of them are upholstered in plain, durable, black horsehair.

Davis, who suffered from recurring bouts of malaria, often was forced to work at home in his second-floor office. An 1853 roller map of North America hangs on one wall and his 1829 commission in the U.S. Army on another.

Roses, the Davises' favorite flowers, are featured on the wallpaper of the master bedchamber and Varina's dressing room. The two 1850s-era reclining chairs on display were popular during the Civil War.

Regardless of age, all the Davis children lived in the nursery. None of the sleeping furniture was ever recovered. A miniature tea set, several dolls and games are strewn around the room to indicate the presence of young children.
- Karen Laski is a freelance writer who lives in Marshall, Va.

If you go

The mansion is open daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Hours are: Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Only guided tours are available. Admission is $5.50 for adults, $4.50 for seniors and $3.50 for students 7 and older.

The adjacent Museum of the Confederacy houses what is said to be the nation's largest collection of Confederate artifacts. Among the displays are J.E.B. Stuart's plumed hat, saddle and sword; and some of Robert E. Lee's personal effects, including the uniform and sword he wore at Appomattox on April 9, 1865. It's quite a collection.

Open Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.; closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and $3 for students. Combination tickets for the two sites are $8 for adults, $7 for seniors and $5 for students.

For more information: Contact the White House of the Confederacy, 1201 E Clay St., Richmond, VA 23219; (804) 649-1861.

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