15th Annual Walking Tour Archive – Danville Historical Society
| Historic Designation: | Tuggle House |
| Address: | 127 Westmoreland Court |
| 1987 Owners: | Mr. & Mrs. Charles A. Carr, Jr. |
| Description: |
The site of this imposing dwelling, a 60-foot-wide lot, was probably the first developed on Westmoreland Court, which was laid out in the mid-1920s by Harry C. Ficklen, an enigmatic figure well- known in his day as a writer, local historian and political observer. The property was described in the deed as “a small part of that large ‘Residue of John C. Ficklen’s Home
Tract’," commonly called Ficklen’s Field. Here, facing West Main between Lady Astor Street and
Westmoreland Court, stood the old, some said haunted, Ficklen homeplace. Obviously, Mr. Ficklen named Lady Astor Street for Danville’s-charming-daughter-made-good, Nancy Langhorne, Viscountess Astor, who in 1922 became the first woman elected to the British House of Commons. The source of the name Westmoreland is only conjectural, but probably Mr. Ficklen, champion and chauvinist for the Commonwealth that he was, named the street
after Westmoreland County in Virginia’s Northern Neck, the site of Wakefield, George Washington’s birthplace, and Stratford, the Lee ancestral home.
In December of 1927, Mr. Ficklen sold what was presumably the first building lot on Westmoreland Court to Mr. and Mrs. H. Gordon Tuggle. City property record. assessed the lot and house, completed in 1928, at nearly $10,000. Mr. Tuggle, a tobacconist, his wife and two children, lived hem nearly a decade before they moved near the Danville Golf Club in the developing Pinetag area, then south of Danville. They sold their Westmoreland Court home to Mr. and Mrs. Hugh T. Williams. Mr. Williams and his wife Mary Hamlin Williams were both Danville attorneys. Mrs. Williams was among the city’s first female attorneys, and for some years she and her husband practiced as partners in the same firm. They sold their home to Mr. and Mrs. Robert W. Wiseman in October of 1947. Several months later R. Haskins McFalI, an uncle of Mrs. Wiseman, the former Jane McFall, moved into the house next door at 129 Westmoreland, which the family owned for many years after the Wisemans sold their home at 127 Westmoreland to Mr. and Mrs. Job,1 D. Watt in 1950. The Watt family resided hen, for more than 25 years Mrs. Watt living here about ten years after the death other husband before selling the house to Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Carr, Jr., in 1977. Over the past decade Mr. and Mrs. Can and their family have refurbished totally this solid structure that contains even some interior walls that are solid masonry. The sophisticated and still practical 1920s heating system features radiators within these walls. Just as the semi-circular portico makes the house imposing from the street, so too the elaborate classical-style mouldings inside enrich the house’s well-proportioned formal rooms. These rooms are appointed with a number of old family furnishings and unusual pieces from Mr. Carr’s business trip’. abroad as a tobacconist, When they entertain, the Carrs have come to appreciate the open floorplan, characteristic of Bryant Heard designs. Colors too, chosen by Mrs. Carr, flow from room to room. Soft shades of rose, celodon, and ivory are soon on the walls, draperies and upholstery, enhancing the Georgian Revival details, sweeping spiral staircase in the hail, and the patina of the quartersawn oak floors. Octagonal buff- colored terracotta tile is a pleasing feature of the airy downstairs solarium, but in fact, the large windows throughout the house bathe all its rooms in a soft glow. |