Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 09/01/1970
NRHP Listing Date 09/17/1970
DHR's Virginia Board of Historic Resources easement
NRHP Reference Number 70000810
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 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 completed in 1849 for 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 remained in the ownership of Watson descendants at the end of the 20th century.
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
Updated: April 26, 2022
