Page-Vawter House

Page-Vawter House
Location Rt. Box 20, Ansted, West Virginia
Coordinates 38°8′13″N 81°6′6″W / 38.13694°N 81.10167°W / 38.13694; -81.10167Coordinates: 38°8′13″N 81°6′6″W / 38.13694°N 81.10167°W / 38.13694; -81.10167
Area 2.3 acres (0.93 ha)
Built 1890
Architect Minter, William
Architectural style Gothic
NRHP Reference # 85001813[1]
Added to NRHP August 21, 1985
A view of the Page-Vawter House in Ansted, West Virginia from the Midland Trail during a group bus tour of Friends of the Virginian Railway gathering on May 3, 2008.

Page-Vawter House in the town of Ansted in Fayette County, West Virginia was built in 1889-90 by company carpenters of the Gauley Mountain Coal Company for the family of William Nelson Page, who was company president. The palatial white Victorian mansion is located on a knoll in the middle of town. William and Emma (née Gilham) Page raised their four children there, attended by a staff of 8 servants.

Architect William Minter designed the house in a Gothic style. It has 15 regular rooms, plus a butler's pantry and a dressing room. There are 11 fireplaces with hand-carved wooden mantels; most are in different styles. Even the doors have ornately decorated hinges.[2] The exterior features 52 8-foot-tall windows built by company carpenters on a knoll in the middle of town.[3]

According to author and railroad historian H. Reid in his book The Virginian Railway (Kalmbach, 1961), it was in this mansion that Page developed the plans for the coal-hauling Virginian Railway, which was financed by industrialist Henry Huddleston Rogers and became the "Richest Little Railroad in the World" after its completion in 1909. The nearby railroad town of Page was named for him.

The mansion was later occupied by several generation of the Vawter family. In the 21st century, it still stands as evidence of the once-thriving coal business.

The Page-Vawter House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. ↑ http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/624294/historic_ansted_house_goes_on_the_market/index.html
  3. ↑ http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=38468
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