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 nearby W.F. Patton House at 926 Main Street. Built circa-1890, this Main Street mansion shares the Queen Anne-style form and footprint of its Holbrook Avenue cousin.

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 establish Holbrook Avenue as one the city’s most fashionable thoroughfares. It was developed from land once part of the rear yard of Major and Mrs. Sutherlin’s antebellum mansion.

In 1999, Ms. Alfrieta Bennett acquired the Holbrook Avenue house, beginning the process of bringing this once grand mansion back from the brink—including years of neglect and the effects of a disastrous fire which destroyed much of the second floor and attic over a decade ago. Her able efforts are being enhanced in the capable hands of Mr. Dave Fieldman who, since purchasing this house in 2004, is
continuing here in Danville the sort of careful restoration he lavished on his last address in Peterburg, Virginia, an 18th century house which he refurbished with an eye to integrity. Such also is the attention to original detail he is undertaking room-by-room, much of it hands-on, with his latest restoration project here in Danville.