Nearly 130 years after it was completed at the western edge of town, the Sutherlin Mansion continues to impress and intrigue today as it did passersby and visitors in antebellum Danville.
At age 36, when with his family he moved into his new and fashionable Italian-Villa-style dwelling completed in 1858, William T. Sutherlin had already served as an alderman and mayor, and had gained the respect of his colleagues as a leading banker, tobacconist and entrepreneur. Small wonder then that his move from Wilson Street to Main foreshadowed a general shift of Danville’s leading families to Main and nearby streets, especially after the War Between the States.
During the War, William Sutherlin was appointed quartermaster for the area and achieved the rank of major. After the War he served as president of the Virginia State Board of Agriculture, and advanced the cause of higher education and Danville’s interests as a Delegate in the General Assembly.
His house too receive acclaim near the close of the War when Maj. and Mrs. Sutherlin received Confederate President Jefferson Davis as their guest following the Fall of Richmond. He and his cabinet remained in Danville from April 3 until April 10 when they learned of Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. At this house President Davis signed his last proclamation to the Confederate citizens. On account of its historical associations the structure is known as the "Last Capitol of the Confederacy.” Registered today as a Virginia Historic Landmark, the structure possesses all the hallmarks of the Italian Villa style: a shallow hipped roof, bracketed cornice, smooth stuccoed walls, hood mouldings, and a square cupola.
It remains the architectural focal point for Danville’s gracious Main Street due largely to a group of early historic preservationists who, in 1913, organized the Danville Confederate Memorial Association to raise funds to purchase the property to prevent its being subdivided and sold to speculators to settle the estate of Mrs. Sutherlin who had died in 1911. For its part in helping save the building the Anne Eliza Johns Chapter, UDC, retains second-floor quarters in the building “in perpetuity.”
In 1928 work commenced to convert the dwelling to Danville’s Public Library, which remained in the building for some 45 years. In 1973 the library relocated to its present downtown and the Danville Chapter of the Virginia Museum petitioned City Council for use of the historic shrine as a museum of history and art for the community. Now designated as the Danvile Museum of Fine Arts & History, the Mansion and its original rooms have been lovingly restored to their mid-19th-century appearance, and the former library annexes now provide space for galleries and an auditorium. Each year during the Christmas season the Danville Museum decorates in the manner of a mid-Victorian Christmas, much like what the Sutherlins might have known.