054-0073

Westend

VLR Listing Date

09/01/1970

NRHP Listing Date

09/17/1970

NRHP Reference Number

70000810
DHR's Virginia Board of Historic Resources easement

Thomas Jefferson’s vision of a prosperous agrarian republic with landowners occupying modest but sophisticated classical villas is given tangible expression at Westend, one of the landmarks of the Green Springs Rural Historic District in Louisa County. Employing the Palladian format of a porticoed center section with one-story wings, a design admired by Jefferson, the house was built in 1849 by Susan Dabney Morris Watson, widow of Dr. James Watson of Bracketts, a neighboring plantation. The contractor was James Magruder. The academic correctness of the classical details is probably due to Malcolm F. Crawford, a master carpenter who became literate in the Roman orders while employed at the University of Virginia. Both wings were originally fronted by orangeries. The house and its formally positioned outbuildings are the nucleus of a 600-acre farm. Westend remains under the ownership of Watson descendants.

Last Updated: June 10, 2025

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Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark

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