Hawthorne, also known as the Browder Place, is a historic

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 ...

plantation house A plantation house is the main house of a plantation, often a substantial farmhouse, which often serves as a symbol for the plantation as a whole. Plantation houses in the Southern United States and in other areas are known as quite grand and e ...

and

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

in Prairieville,

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

, USA. This area of Hale County was included in

Marengo County Marengo County is a county located in the west central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 19,323. The largest city is Demopolis, and the county seat is Linden. It is named in honor of the Battle of ...

before the creation of Hale in 1867. Hawthorne is included in the

Plantation Houses of the Alabama Canebrake and Their Associated Outbuildings Multiple Property Submission The Plantation Houses of the Alabama Canebrake and Their Associated Outbuildings Multiple Property Submission is a multiple property submission of properties that were together listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The multiple prope ...

. NRIS Database, National Register of Historic Places. Retrieved 6 March 2008. 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 July 7, 1994, due to its architectural significance.

History

Construction on Hawthorne began in 1818. It was eventually enlarged to a large house with over 30 rooms and a full basement by the Manning family, who used the forced labor of enslaved people to work the plantation. The property was later purchased by Dr. James Daniel Browder; by the end of the Civil War he had downsized most of the existing structure and completed the house as it stands today. The architect for Dr Browder's project was a young architect, Maj. J. W. Tayloe, of the Canebrake, perhaps the most notable young cotton planter in the area between 1850 and 1860.Chronicles of the Canebrake, John Witherspoon Dubose, Alabama Quarterly, Winter 1947 The eldest son of

George Plater Tayloe George Plater Tayloe ( October 15, 1804 – Apr 18, 1897) was a Virginia businessman, soldier and legislator who also served as one of the original trustees of Hollins University. Early life George Tayloe was born October 15, 1804, at Mount Airy ...

Buena Vista (Roanoke, Virginia) Buena Vista is a historic plantation house located in Roanoke, Virginia. It was built about 1840, and is a two-story, brick Greek Revival style dwelling with a shallow hipped roof and two-story, three-bay wing. The front facade features a massi ...

who owned considerable estates in the

Arcola, Alabama Arcola is a ghost town on the Black Warrior River in what is now Hale County, formerly Marengo County, Alabama. Named to honor the French victory during the Battle of Arcola, it was established in the early 1820s by former French Bonapartists as ...

neighborhood including "Elmwood" and brother to Col George E Tayloe, he was the grandson of Col.

John Tayloe III John Tayloe III (September 2, 1770March 23, 1828), of Richmond County, Virginia, was a planter, politician, businessman, and tidewater gentry scion. He was prominent in elite social circles. A highly successful planter and thoroughbred horse b ...

the Octagon House The Octagon House, also known as the Colonel John Tayloe III House, is located at 1799 New York Avenue, Northwest in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C. After the British destroyed the White House during the War of 1812, the house ...

in Washington DC and great grandson of Col.

John Tayloe II Colonel John Tayloe II (28 May 172118 April 1779) was a planter and politician, among the richest planters in colonial Virginia. He served in public office including the Virginia Governor's Council, also known as the Virginia Council of State. ...

who built the grand colonial estate Mount Airy in Richmond Co Virginia. He graduated from

Virginia Military Institute la, Consilio et Animis (on seal) , mottoeng = "In peace a glorious asset, In war a tower of strength""By courage and wisdom" (on seal) , established = , type = Public senior military college , accreditation = SACS , endowment = $696.8 mill ...

, inherited Walnut Grove Plantation and married Miss Lucie Randolph of "Oakleigh" plantation. He and the client designed the house with inspiration drawn from Samuel Sloan's 1852 publication of ''The Model Architect''.

Architecture

Hawthorne is built in the

Italian Villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Typology and distribution Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas ...

style. It comprises a main two-story block, a three-story tower, and an adjoining one-story wing. A one-story porch with

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the s ...

brackets wraps around the main block of the house. The

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

s and

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural styl ...

on the main section and tower are also bracketed. Numerous

French door A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a ''doorway'' or ''portal''. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide security by ...

s open onto the porch from the parlor and dining room. The tower contains an arched entrance vestibule at the base. It originally had arched windows on the third level, as well as decorative woodwork on the second level and around the ground floor archway. The tower windows have been replaced by simple square sash windows and the decorative details have been simplified with the addition of synthetic siding.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places National Register of Historic Places in Hale County, Alabama Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama Houses completed in 1862 Italianate architecture in Alabama Plantation houses in Alabama Houses in Hale County, Alabama Historic districts in Hale County, Alabama 1862 establishments in Alabama Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama