Ornamental terracotta panels enrich the facade of this two-and-a-half-story brick dwelling built in 1889 for Willis J. Dance. With its striking octagonal-ended projection capped by an ogee dome, the house bears an architectural family resemblance to the circa-1890 W.F. Patton House built nearby at 926 Main Street, which shares its Queen Anne-style form and footprint.

Until the mid 1980s this dwelling continued to be associated with the Donelson family, descendants of the Dance and Williamson families, who at this address helped established Holbrook Avenue as one the City’s most fashionable thoroughfares, developed from land once part of the rear yard of Major and Mrs. Sutherlin’s antebellum mansion.

In less than three years the present owner, Ms. Alfrieta Bennett, has brought the Holbrook Avenue house back from the brink, correcting years of neglect and the effects of a disastrous fire which destroyed much of the second floor and attic over a decade ago. Her attentive stewardship has returned the original luster to this superb structure.