Glennmary in Halifax County is a work by the builder Dabney Cosby, Sr., who assisted with the original Jeffersonian buildings at the University of Virginia. Leaving Charlottesville, Cosby continued to design and build throughout southern Virginia. As noted in his account book, Glennmary was begun in 1837 for Archibald Glenn, son of a Halifax merchant. Although a plantation dwelling, its three-bay, side-hall-plan format is more commonly seen in urban housing. Typical of Cosby’s works, Glennmary employs brickwork of the highest quality. By the time it was built, Cosby had veered from the purely Roman Classicism favored by Thomas Jefferson and was using Greek elements. The mantels are based on Grecian designs published by Asher Benjamin in The Practical House Carpenter (1830). Glennmary stood neglected for many years but was restored in the 1980s.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia