Built ca. 1836 by Dr. Samuel Powell Byrd, on property inherited by his wife, Catherine Corbin Fauntleroy, White Hall is the successor to an earlier brick dwelling, long the seat of the Willis family. The present house is an example of the pedimented, temple-form dwelling type popular for more sophisticated early-19th-century Virginia houses. Along with such antecedents as the Finnie House in Williamsburg and the John Marshall House in Richmond, White Hall reflects the increasing interest in using classical forms for dignity and character. The house is a marked contrast to the unimaginative I-house, the more usual form of Virginia’s rural houses, both large and small. Like many of Gloucester County’s historic dwellings, White Hall is set near the water’s edge, the Ware River in this case, and is approached by an impressive axial drive lined with cedars.