An amply-proportioned U-shaped porch has welcomed generations of visitors into this charming late- Victorian house identified particularly with two Danville families of note. It was built in 1892 for Mr. and Mrs. William P. Averett, relatives of the “dynasty” of distinguished educators and administrators—namesake for Averett University—who, at the time, lived around the corner in the duplex at 922-924 Green Street. It survives as one the best preserved of four contiguous wood and shingle dwellings, each with picturesque Queen Anne style details, built in the early 1890s just after the large rear yard of Maj. William T. Sutherlin’s Main Street mansion was subdivided into lots for fashionable residences. 

For more than 80 years, the house has been home to members of the Dickenson family, most recently to John G. Dickenson, Jr., a great-grandson of John C. Dickenson and his family who purchased the house in 1921. Since acquiring the property four years ago, John G. Dickenson, Jr., and his wife Kathryn, have lovingly refurbished the old family home; carefully adding period decorative painting to the interior and a delightful urban garden in the rear yard.