Cuckoo is a

Federal style Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the newly founded United States between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was heavily based on the works of Andrea Palladio with several inn ...

house in the small community of

Cuckoo, Virginia Cuckoo is a small unincorporated community in Louisa County, Virginia, United States. It is located about eight miles southeast of Louisa, roughly between Charlottesville and Richmond. The Cuckoo Tavern stood nearby, which in 1781 was the beginn ...

near Mineral, Virginia, built in 1819 for Henry Pendleton. Cuckoo was listed on 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 August 19, 1994. The house is prominently sited on

U.S. Route 33 U.S. Route 33 (US 33) is a United States Numbered Highway that runs northwest–southeast for from northern Indiana to Richmond, Virginia, passing through Ohio and West Virginia en route. Although most odd-numbered U.S. routes are north– ...

, which curves around the house. Cuckoo's interior retains Federal detailing alongside Colonial Revival elements from the early 20th century. The house is notable for its design, prominence and its association with the Pendleton family of doctors. The house was named for the Cuckoo Tavern, which stood nearby from 1788. It has been in the Pendleton family since its construction.

History

The initial construction featured a two-story front section with a one-story extension to the rear, housing the dining room and the winter kitchen. Between 1839 and 1907 the house was owned by Dr. Philip Barbour Pendleton, who added a second floor to the rear wing and extended the main roof to cover the new row of rooms across the back of the house. A later generation of Pendletons remodeled the house in the Colonial Revival style after 1910, adding the present Neoclassical portico. The next owners, Anne Pendleton Forrest and Dr. William Mentzel Forrest, added to the rear wing with a design by architect Stanislaw J. Makielski of

Charlottesville Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Cha ...

. The complex includes a number of outbuildings, including two separate doctor's office buildings, a garage, barn, smokehouse, and the Pendleton family cemetery.

Description

Cuckoo is a brick two-story three-bay center-hall structure, with single rooms flanking the stair hall. The house is fronted by a porch across its entire width. A second set of rooms, part of the original one-story section, lie to the rear of the front rooms, with further 20th-century additions across the back. A semicircular closet with a small window projects at the ground floor between the fireplaces of the rooms to the right of the center hall. The fireplaces and chimneys project prominently from both side elevations. The Makielski addition to the rear features a bowed porch that echoes the curve of the closet. The interior of the addition includes a back stairway. Historic Cuckoo

Outbuildings

The small doctor's office is believed to have been built in the early-to-mid 19th century for Dr. Robert Barret a short distance to the north of Cuckoo, and was moved to Cuckoo by Dr. Philip Barbour Pendleton prior to the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

for use as Pendleton's medical office. The large doctor's office was built ''circa'' 1888 for Dr. Eugene Pendleton on the grounds of his house, named Linwood, in the village of Cuckoo. It was expanded to accommodate his son's practice about 1908, and was moved to Cuckoo in 1910 when Eugene moved there. The office was moved again in 1972 when the highway was widened, and was used as a medical office by Dr. Eugene Barbour Pendleton until 1979. A smokehouse was built in the late 19th century, and a barn in the early 20th century. An octagonal wood wellhouse, built in the late 19th or early 20th century, stands close to the main house. A garage was built in the 1930s.

Cemetery

The Pendleton cemetery is located in an oak grove at the top of a small rise about 1/4 mile from the house. Surrounded by a low stone wall, the cemetery contains three gravestones and several unmarked graves.

Recent history

Cuckoo was listed on the

on August 19, 1994. The house sustained damage in the

2011 Virginia earthquake On August 23, 2011, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit the Piedmont region of the U.S. state of Virginia at 1:51:04 p.m. EDT. The epicenter, in Louisa County, was northwest of Richmond and south-southwest of the town of Mineral. It was an ...

, with the collapse of its tall chimneys. The damage was repaired.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Federal architecture in Virginia Colonial Revival architecture in Virginia Houses completed in 1819 Houses in Louisa County, Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Louisa County, Virginia