The Bankhead House, also known as Sunset and the John Hollis Bankhead House, is a historic mansion in

Jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases,Kostov, R. I. 2010. Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks. – Archaeometry Workshop, 7, 3, 209-213PDF/ref> ...

Walker County, Alabama Walker County is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama. "ACES Walker County Office" (links/history), Alabama Cooperative Extension System (ACES), 2007, webpage: ACES-Walker As of the 2020 census, the popu ...

. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on June 18, 1973.

History

The

Classical Revival Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing style ...

-style house was built for

John H. Bankhead John Hollis Bankhead (September 13, 1842March 1, 1920) was a Democratic U.S. Senator from the state of Alabama between 1907 and 1920. Life and career Bankhead was born on September 13, 1842, at Moscow, present-day Lamar County, Alabama (near ...

in 1910. He served in the

Alabama Legislature The Alabama Legislature is the legislative branch of the state government of Alabama. It is a bicameral body composed of the House of Representatives and Senate. It is one of the few state legislatures in which members of both chambers serv ...

, as a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

, and as a

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

. His granddaughter, the award-winning actress

Tallulah Brockman Bankhead Tallulah Brockman Bankhead (January 31, 1902 – December 12, 1968) was an American actress. Primarily an actress of the stage, Bankhead also appeared in several prominent films including an award-winning performance in Alfred Hitchcock's ''Lif ...

and her sister Eugenia, were raised in the house when

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

was not in session. The pair were largely reared by their grandmother, Tallulah James Brockman Bankhead, after their mother died from

sepsis Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

less than a month after Tallulah's birth.

Architecture

The

-style house is a two-story wood-frame building with a stone foundation and

hipped roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...

. It features a one-story portico that spans the full width of the front (east) of the house and partially wraps around each side. At the front central

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

, the porch projects and transitions to a two-tiered portico that frames the main entrance. A

porte cochere Porte may refer to: *Sublime Porte, the central government of the Ottoman empire *Porte, Piedmont, a municipality in the Piedmont region of Italy *John Cyril Porte, British/Irish aviator *Richie Porte, Australian professional cyclist who competes ...

projects out from the main porch on the south side of the house. Most of the windows feature one lite per sash, typical of the time the house was built.

References

External links

* National Register of Historic Places in Walker County, Alabama Houses in Walker County, Alabama Neoclassical architecture in Alabama Houses completed in 1910 Historic house museums in Alabama Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama Bankhead family Historic American Buildings Survey in Alabama 1910 establishments in Alabama {{Alabama-museum-stub