The Larimore House was a historic residence and school in

Florence, Alabama Florence is a city in, and the county seat of, Lauderdale County, Alabama, United States, in the state's northwestern corner. It is situated along the Tennessee River and is home to the University of North Alabama, the oldest college in the st ...

that was home to Theophilus Brown Larimore (died March 18, 1929), an influential Christian

evangelist Evangelist may refer to: Religion * Four Evangelists, the authors of the canonical Christian Gospels * Evangelism, publicly preaching the Gospel with the intention of spreading the teachings of Jesus Christ * Evangelist (Anglican Church), a c ...

in the United States. 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 1974.

History

The house was built as a residence for Theophilus Brown Larimore, and served as the center of a school, known as Mars Hill College. The school operated from 1871 until 1887, and Larimore lived in the house until his first wife's death in 1907. His son, Virgil, lived in the house until 1946, when it was acquired by the Lauderdale County Bible School, which opened in the house in 1947. The school's name changed to

Mars Hill Bible School Mars Hill Bible School is a private, college preparatory Christian day school for boys and girls located in Florence, Alabama. The school begins at pre-kindergarten and continues through the twelfth grade. The school also operates a pre-school. ...

in 1951. In the following years, new buildings were built to house the school. The Larimore Home continued to be a fixture and symbol of the school, which hosted special events and weddings. On the night of July 19, 2018, the Larimore Home was intentionally set on fire by an arsonist. Only a few items of T.B. Larimore's were saved, and only a burned structure was left. In the following months, Restoration Experts determined the home could not be restored. In February 2019, the home was torn down. Only a historical marker remains where it once stood.

Architecture and fittings

The house featured Victorian influences, and had a nearly full-width, double-height

veranda A veranda or verandah is a roofed, open-air gallery or porch, attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front and sides of the structure. Although the form ''veran ...

across the façade, supported by six square columns. The front entrance was flanked by pairs of four-over-four

sash window A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned window (architecture), paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double gla ...

s with

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

-influenced arched tops; the windows were repeated on each side of the house. The upper floor has single six-over-six sashes. The house had a center-hall plan with two rooms on either side of a central hall on each floor. Two interior chimneys lead to six fireplaces with hand-carved mantels. ''See also:''

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Alabama National Register of Historic Places in Lauderdale County, Alabama Victorian architecture in Alabama Houses completed in 1870 Houses in Florence, Alabama