The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project

Blackwell House

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Institution Name: Randolph-Macon College
Original/Historic Place Name: President's House
Location on Campus: 310 Railroad Ave.
Date(s) of Construction:

1888-1889

original construction Dimmock, M. J.

Designer: M. J. Dimmock
Type of Place: Individual building
Style: Other (Glossary)
Significance: education
Narrative: see below
References: see below

Materials:

Foundation: brick

Walls: wood

Roof: slate

Function:

ca. 1889-1930	president's house
ca. 1930	other (privately owned)
ca. 1930	other (faculty apartments)
ca. 1997-present (2006)	administration (Treasurer's office)

Narrative:
The house was built for William Waugh Smith, 1845-1912, President of Randolph-Macon College and founder of Randolph-Macon Academy, Bedford, Virginia (1890, now defunct); Randolph-Macon Academy, Front Royal, Virginia (1891); and Randolph-Macon Women's College (1893).Smith thus created the Randolph-Macon system of which he was first chancellor.

The building was used for faculty apartments, then sold to a private owner, then bought back and converted to use for the Treasurer's Office in 1997.

References:

Irby, Richard. History of Randolph-Macon College, Virginia. The Oldest Incorporated Methodist College in America. Richmond, VA: Whittel and Shepperson, general printers, 1898.

Scanlon, James E. Randolph-Macon College: A Southern History 1825-1967. Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1983.

Virginia Landmarks Historic Commission. Randolph-Macon College Complex. National Register of Historic Places designation report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior/ Park Service, 1979.

Wilson, Richard Guy, et al. Buildings of Virginia: Tidewater and Piedmont. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.