With its prominent gambrel-roofed, shingled projection, highlighted by a-window of modified Palladian style, this lavish Queen Anne style house hints—in form—at the growing enthusiasm for all things “Colonial” in 189 Os. It was built for the Rev. Dr. William E. Judkins, who in 1890 had moved to Danville, the hometown of his bride Kate Lee Holland. The Judkins’ insistence on nothing but the best remains in evidence today in the stunning stained glass, handsome mantels and parquet floors cherished by the present owners.

After long association with prominent Danville tobacco families—the above-mentioned Hollands, as well as Mr. & Mrs. Charles B. Davis and daughter Ruth, whose husband John Calvin Drake was a Coca-Cola Company executive in Charlotte, North Carolina—the house was purchased at auction in 1983 by Dr. & Mrs. Allen Y. Lin. 

Encouraged by the economics of historic tax credits, the Lins rehabilitated the structures existing three apartments meticulously, in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation. In 1997, when Mrs. Lin persuaded her husband to convert the property into their personal residence, she renewed her passion for meticulous restoration and attention to detail. The restored setting serves as a backdrop for the Lin’s collections from Asia, Europe, the Middle East and South America.