The Edmund King House is a historic residence on the campus of the

University of Montevallo The University of Montevallo is a public university in Montevallo, Alabama. Founded on October 12, 1896, the university is Alabama's only public liberal arts college and a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. The University of ...

Montevallo, Alabama Montevallo is a city in Shelby County, Alabama, United States. A college town, it is the home of the University of Montevallo, a public liberal arts university with approximately 3,000 students. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city o ...

. The house was built by Edmund King, a native

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

n who arrived in Alabama in 1817. First building a log cabin, he built the house in 1823. After becoming a successful planter and businessman, he donated land for churches, roads, and schools, including for the Alabama Girls Industrial School (today known as the University of Montevallo). Upon his death in 1863, the house passed to a son-in-law, and was deeded to the Industrial School in 1908. ''See also:'' The house has been used as a classroom, an office building, an infirmary, a home economics practice home, and a summer home for male students. Today, the home is used as a guest house for visitors to the University. The

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 is two stories, and built of brick laid in

English bond Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called '' courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by si ...

. The central main entrance is topped with a four-light

transom Transom may refer to: * Transom (architecture), a bar of wood or stone across the top of a door or window, or the window above such a bar * Transom (nautical), that part of the stern of a vessel where the two sides of its hull meet * Operation Tran ...

. The entrance and flanking windows are spanned with flat, flared arches which are stuccoed to resemble stone. Windows on the ground floor are nine-over-six

sashes Sashes Island is an island in the River Thames in England at Cookham Lock near Cookham, Berkshire. It is now open farmland, but has Roman and Anglo-Saxon connections. The island is located between Hedsor Water and the present navigation cha ...

, with six-over-six sashes on the upper floor. The interior is a center-hall plan, with two rooms on either side of a central hallway on both floors. Each room contains an

Adamesque The Adam style (or Adamesque and "Style of the Brothers Adam") is an 18th-century neoclassical style of interior design and architecture, as practised by Scottish architect William Adam and his sons, of whom Robert (1728–1792) and James (173 ...

fireplace mantel. The exterior was

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

ed and scored to imitate stone in the mid-19th century, and a front

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

and rear ell were also later additions. These features were removed in a 1973–74 restoration. The house 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 ...

in 1972.

References

National Register of Historic Places in Shelby County, Alabama Federal architecture in Alabama Houses completed in 1823 Houses in Shelby County, Alabama University of Montevallo University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama University and college buildings completed in 1823 1823 establishments in Alabama {{Alabama-NRHP-stub