Stanton Hall

Last updated

Stanton Hall
Stanton Hall perspective view.jpg
Stanton Hall in 2024
USA Mississippi location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location401 High Street, Natchez, Mississippi
Coordinates 31°33′45″N91°24′03″W / 31.562621°N 91.400730°W / 31.562621; -91.400730
Built1851
Built byThomas Rose
Architectural style Greek Revival
NRHP reference No. 74002254
USMS No.001-NAT-0188-NHL-NRD-ML
Significant dates
Added to NRHPMay 30, 1974 [1]
Designated NHLMay 30, 1974 [2]
Designated USMSMarch 21, 1995 [3]

Stanton Hall, also known as Belfast, is a Greek Revival mansion within the Natchez On-Top-of-the-Hill Historic District at 401 High Street in Natchez, Mississippi. Built in the 1850s, it is one of the most opulent antebellum mansions to survive in the southeastern United States. It is now operated as a historic house museum by the Pilgrimage Garden Club. The house was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974; [2] [4] a pivotal property inside the Natchez On-Top-of-the-Hill Historic District in 1979; [5] and a Mississippi Landmark in 1995. [3]

Contents

Description

Stanton Hall occupies an entire 2-acre (0.81 ha) city block north of downtown Natchez, bounded by High, Commerce, Monroe, and Pearl Streets. The property is ringed by wrought iron fencing with elaborate gate posts. The house is a three-story brick structure, plastered and painted white. It was designed and built by Thomas Rose, a local builder and English immigrant.

Its front entrance features a two-story Greek temple portico, with four fluted cast-iron Corinthian columns supporting an entablature and gabled pediment. Spaces between the columns have decorative iron railings, repeated in a second-floor balcony railing set under the portico. The main roof is hipped, and truncated with a large cupola at the center. The interior is elaborately decorated, using materials such as imported Italian marble, textiles from Paris and chandeliers made of glass and bronze. [4]

History

Photograph of Stanton Hall by Frances Benjamin Johnston, 1938 Stanton Hall, Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi.jpg
Photograph of Stanton Hall by Frances Benjamin Johnston, 1938

Stanton Hall was built during 1851–1857 for Frederick Stanton, a cotton broker. Stanton named it "Belfast", but only lived in it for nine months before he died of yellow fever. The house's scale and opulence made it a great financial burden on his heirs, but it survived the American Civil War, and in 1890 was made home to the Stanton College for Young Ladies. In 1940 it was acquired by the Pilgrimage Garden Club, [4] which uses it as its headquarters and operates it as a museum and event venue.

The house's insides have appeared in ABC's mini-series North and South as the Mains' mansion interiors. [Note 1] The house was also seen briefly in Show Boat (1951).

In South and West: From a Notebook , Joan Didion writes that Ben Toledano's wife suggested she visit Stanton Hall as well as the Asphodel Plantation, the Oakley Plantation and the Rosedown Plantation to understand the South better. [6]

Notes

  1. The exteriors were filmed at the Boone Hall Plantation, near Charleston, South Carolina

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Longwood (Natchez, Mississippi)</span> Historic house in Mississippi, United States

Longwood, also known as Nutt's Folly, is a historic antebellum octagonal mansion located at 140 Lower Woodville Road in Natchez, Mississippi, United States. Built in part by enslaved people, the mansion is on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, and is a National Historic Landmark. Longwood is the largest octagonal house in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arlington (Natchez, Mississippi)</span> Historic house in Mississippi, United States

Arlington is a historic Federal style house and outbuildings in Natchez, Mississippi. The 55-acre (22 ha) property, which includes three contributing buildings, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. It was further declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974. Following a fire that destroyed much of the main house, it was placed on Mississippi's 10 most endangered historic places for 2009 by the Mississippi Heritage Trust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auburn (Natchez, Mississippi)</span> United States historic place

Auburn is an Federal mansion in Duncan Park in Natchez, Mississippi. It was designed and constructed by Levi Weeks in 1812, and introduced academic Classical order architecture in the Mississippi territory. Its prominent two-story portico served as a model for the subsequent architectural development of local and nationally important mansions. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974 and a Mississippi Landmark in 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commercial Bank and Banker's House</span> United States historic place

The Commercial Bank and Banker's House is an unusual combination building, housing both a bank premises and the principal banker's residence, at 206 Main Street and 107 Canal Street in Natchez, Mississippi. Built-in 1833, it is a remarkably high-quality and well-preserved example of Greek Revival architecture. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1974. The bank portion of the building, used for a time by a Christian Science congregation, is presently vacant, while the house portion is a private residence. Both the buildings have carved limestone used extensively, columns lintels, window sills, and the entire facia are all carved limestone with the walls being 20" thick brick construction with scored plaster to have the appearance of large limestone blocks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dunleith</span> United States historic place

Dunleith is an antebellum mansion at 84 Homochitto Street in Natchez, Mississippi. Built about 1855, it is Mississippi's only surviving example of a plantation house with a fully encircling colonnade of Greek Revival columns, a form once seen much more frequently than today. Now an inn and conference center, it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1974. Currently the original horse stable serves as a fine dining establishment with a traditional English pub in the lower levels of the structure

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles McLaran House</span> United States historic place

Charles McLaran House, also known as Riverview and as Burris House, is a historic mansion at 512 Second Street South in Columbus, Mississippi. Built in 1847 for a major local landowner, it is a distinctive and particularly grand and well-preserved example of Greek Revival architecture. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">House on Ellicott's Hill</span> United States national historic place

The House on Ellicott's Hill, also known as Connelly's Tavern, James Moore House, or Gilreath's Hill, is a historic house museum at 211 North Canal Street in Natchez, Mississippi. Built in 1798, it is the oldest surviving building in Natchez from its early territorial period. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974 and a Mississippi Landmark in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melrose (Natchez, Mississippi)</span> United States historic place

Melrose is a 15,000 square feet (1,400 m2) mansion, located in Natchez, Mississippi, that is said to reflect "perfection" in its Greek Revival design. The 80-acre (320,000 m2) estate is now part of Natchez National Historical Park and is open to the public by guided tours. The house is furnished for the period just before the Civil War. Melrose was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monmouth (Natchez, Mississippi)</span> United States historic place

Monmouth is a historic antebellum home located at 1358 John A. Quitman Boulevard in Natchez, Mississippi on a 26-acre (11 ha) lot. It was built in 1818 by John Hankinson, and renovated about 1853 by John A. Quitman, a former Governor of Mississippi and well-known figure in the Mexican–American War. It is one of Natchez's grandest Greek Revival mansions. It was declared a Mississippi Landmark in 1986 and a National Historic Landmark in 1988. It is now a small luxury hotel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosalie Mansion</span> United States historic place

Rosalie Mansion is a historic pre-Civil War mansion and historic house museum in Natchez, Mississippi. Built in 1823, it was a major influence on Antebellum architecture in the greater region, inspiring many of Natchez's grand Greek Revival mansions. During the American Civil War, it served as U.S. Army headquarters for the Natchez area from July 1863 on. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natchez On-Top-of-the-Hill Historic District</span> Historic district in Mississippi, United States

Natchez On-Top-of-the-Hill Historic District is a historic district in Natchez, Mississippi that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James C. Flood Mansion</span> Historic house in California, United States

The James C. Flood Mansion is a historic mansion at 1000 California Street, atop Nob Hill in San Francisco, California, USA. Now home of the Pacific-Union Club, it was built in 1886 as the townhouse for James C. Flood, a 19th-century silver baron. It was the first brownstone building west of the Mississippi River, and the only mansion on Nob Hill to structurally survive the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosemount (Forkland, Alabama)</span> Historic house in Alabama, United States

Rosemount is a historic plantation house near Forkland, Alabama. The Greek Revival style house was built in stages between 1832 and the 1850s by the Glover family. The house has been called the "Grand Mansion of Alabama." The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 27, 1971. The Glover family enslaved over 300 people from 1830 until 1860.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Burn (Natchez, Mississippi)</span> Historic house in Mississippi, United States

The Burn, a house built in 1834, is the oldest documented Greek Revival residence in Natchez, Mississippi. It was built on a knoll to the north of the old town area of Natchez. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antebellum architecture</span> Neoclassical architectural style characteristic of the 19th-century Southern United States

Antebellum architecture is the neoclassical architectural style characteristic of the 19th-century Southern United States, especially the Deep South, from after the birth of the United States with the American Revolution, to the start of the American Civil War. Antebellum architecture is especially characterized by Georgian, Neo-classical, and Greek Revival style homes and mansions. These plantation houses were built in the southern American states during roughly the 30 years before the American Civil War; approximately between the 1830s to 1860s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Courthouse (Natchez)</span> United States historic place

The United States Courthouse, previously known as Institute Hall, Opera Hall, and Memorial Hall, is a building in Natchez, Mississippi that was initially constructed from 1851 to 1853, for use as an educational building. It has served a variety of public purposes in the intervening years. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. In 2007, it was rededicated as a courthouse of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">D'Evereux</span> Historic house in Mississippi, United States

D'Evereux Hall is a mansion in Natchez, Mississippi, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gloucester (Natchez, Mississippi)</span> Historic house in Mississippi, United States

Gloucester is a historic mansion in Natchez, Mississippi. It is located on Lower Woodville Road in South Natchez. It was designed by local architect Levi Weeks and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lansdowne (Natchez, Mississippi)</span> Historic house in Mississippi, United States

Lansdowne is a historic estate that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi. The property began as a 727-acre, antebellum, hunting estate - like the estates of the landed gentry in England. After the Civil War cotton, corn, sheep and cattle were raised on Lansdowne until about 1960. The original owner's residence and 120 acres of the original estate are still owned and occupied by the descendants of the builder, who open it periodically for tours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homewood Plantation (Natchez, Mississippi)</span> Plantation with mansion in Mississippi, US

Homewood Plantation was a historic plantation with a mansion of the same name located on it in Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi. Built in 1860 as a wedding present for the Southern belle Catherine Hunt, the daughter of millionaire planter David Hunt, the mansion remained unscathed during the American Civil War of 1861-1865. By the early twentieth century, it was used as a shooting location for 1915 classic film The Birth of a Nation. The author Stark Young used Homewood as the setting of a wedding in his 1934 novel So Red the Rose. The mansion burnt down in 1940.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. 1 2 "Stanton Hall". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved October 23, 2007.
  3. 1 2 "Mississippi Landmarks" (PDF). Mississippi Department of Archives and History. May 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 9, 2010. Retrieved April 20, 2009.
  4. 1 2 3 Paul Goeldner (January 8, 1974). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Stanton Hall" (pdf). National Park Service.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) and Accompanying 3 photos, exterior and interior, from 1973 and undated.  (1.35 MB)
  5. Mary Warren Miller (May 31, 1979). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Natchez On-Top-of-the-Hill Historic District". National Park Service. and accompanying photos
  6. Didion, Joan (2017). South and West: From a Notebook. London, U.K.: 4th Estate. p. 19. ISBN   978-0-00-825717-0.

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Stanton Hall (Natchez, Mississippi) at Wikimedia Commons