Ammadelle is a historic house at 637 North Lamar Boulevard in

Oxford, Mississippi Oxford is a city and college town in the U.S. state of Mississippi. Oxford lies 75 miles (121 km) south-southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, and is the county seat of Lafayette County. Founded in 1837, it was named after the British city of Oxf ...

. Built in 1859, it is an Italianate mansion designed by

Calvert Vaux Calvert Vaux (; December 20, 1824 – November 19, 1895) was an English-American architect and landscape designer, best known as the co-designer, along with his protégé and junior partner Frederick Law Olmsted, of what would become New York Ci ...

, which he regarded as one of his finest works. It was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1974. and

Description and history

Ammadelle is set on a landscaped parcel on the west side of North Lamar Street south of its junction with Price Street. It is a red brick building, two stories in height, with white

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

trim and black shutters. It has an irregular plan, with porches flanking a projecting central gabled entry pavilion. The porches, single story in height, have Italianate trim and low balustrades above. Windows on the second level are set in round-arch openings, with deeply projecting bracketed cornices above. The entry is recessed deeply within the pavilion, which has an open arch to the left porch. The house was designed by

in 1857, and construction of the building took place between 1859 and 1861. Final details were incomplete when the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

started, and the missing details (balconies across the rear, and a wine cellar) were never finished. Vaux was at the time of the commission just 34, and had recently struck out on his own after having worked with

Andrew Jackson Downing Andrew Jackson Downing (October 31, 1815 – July 28, 1852) was an American landscape designer, horticulturist, and writer, a prominent advocate of the Gothic Revival in the United States, and editor of ''The Horticulturist'' magazine (1846–5 ...

, a major proponent of the Italianate style. That Vaux thought Ammadelle was one of his best works is suggested by his inclusion of a similar design in the second and third editions of his book ''Villas and Cottages''. The house was built for Thomas E.B. Pegues. It has been very well preserved, with only minor alterations. Vaux's original plans are with the owner of the building.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places National Historic Landmarks in Mississippi Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi Houses in Lafayette County, Mississippi Houses completed in 1859 Oxford, Mississippi National Register of Historic Places in Lafayette County, Mississippi Calvert Vaux designs

Description and history

See also

References