Quite visible from Oregon Hill was one of the most celebrated buildings of Richmond, known as Pratt’s Castle (Folly or Cottage). This building with crenelated towers was constructed on Gamble’s Hill above the Penitentiary Basin by a master of the daguerreotype, William Pratt. An article in the Daily Dispatch from February 1853 records that the unusual edifice was under construction: “[W]e observed the new and unique cottage of Mr. Pratt, the Daguerrean, looking up in skeleton grandeur … The architect has, even in its chrysalis state, imparted to this building an imposing aspect.” This reporter also notes that two “spacious and comfortable” canal boats were being built in the Penitentiary Basin below Gamble’s Hill.

A later article in the Times Dispatch from May 1904 details the rich contents of the castle, lately owned by Samuel Cornick and his wife Hennie, the daughter of Mayor Joseph Mayo. All of the extensive art work, silver, china and diamonds were being sold, including, “25 tons of coal, stores of provisions sufficient to withstand a siege of famine …”

An advertisement for the sale of the castle in 1906 highlights the “cathedral glass” in the hall and parlor. This cathedral glass is notable in the 1865 photograph (detail) of Pratt’s Castle taken by Matthew Brady, found in the National Archives.

In 1958, Ethyl Corporation demolished Pratt’s Castle, one of Richmond’s most distinctive buildings, over the strong objections of Richmond’s preservationists. Around 1983, Ethyl Corp. traded Brown’s Island on the flood plane for the city’s prominent Gamble’s Hill Park with spectacular river views.

Photo credits:
Daily Dispatch, February 4, 1853, Library of Congress
Times Dispatch, July 1, 1906, Library of Congress
Pratt’s Castle, by Matthew Brady, National Archives
Pratt’s Castle, by Matthew Brady (detail), National Archives
Pratt advertisement, February 6, 1854, Daily Dispatch, Library of Congress
Pratt’s Castle, 1905 Sanborn map, Library of Congress

The Sanborn insurance maps are a wonderful resource for researching buildings in Oregon Hill and the City of Richmond. The Sanborn maps were very detailed, showing frame buildings in yellow, brick buildings in red, and stone buildings in blue, with notations of the number of stories and building additions. For example in the detail above we see that the Laurel Street Methodist Church, at the corner of Laurel and Albemarle Streets, was made of brick 28 feet in height to the eaves, had a basement and gas lighting. The Sanborn maps were revised from 1905 through 1925 and the 1905 version is available for free on the Library of Congress web site: http://www.loc.gov/

Photo credit: Library of Congress

A very useful map for anyone studying the history of Oregon Hill and Richmond is the 1876 Beers Atlas. This very detailed atlas identifies the names of the property owners and shows the building footprints. For example, the detail above shows that the Baptist Church in 1876 was on the opposite corner of the 400 block of S. Pine Street, and that the Samuel Parsons House at 601 Spring Street was then known as the Spring Street Home. The Illustrated atlas of the city of Richmond, Va. / by F.W. Beers is available for free on the Library of Congress website (much of Oregon Hill is shown on Section P of the map): http://memory.loc.gov/
Photo credit: Library of Congress

The 1867 Mitchie/Micheler Corps of Engineers map shows the buildings and topography of the entire Richmond area. The attached small detail from the huge map shows a portion of the Oregon Hill neighborhood between the horse-shoe shaped Penitentiary on Spring Street on the right and Hollywood Cemetery on the left. This map shows many homes that were built in Oregon Hill by the Civil War. These houses typically were small workers’ dwellings with gable roofs. Quite a bit of development is shown south of Spring Street, probably because much of this area of the neighborhood was included in the Belvidere estate, which was subdivided around 1817.

Much of the 1867 Mitchie/Micheler map has been placed on the Civil War Richmond website, available for free download:
http://www.mdgorman.com/Maps/1867_engineers_map_of_richmond.htm

Photo credit: Civil War Richmond website (from original map in the National Archives)