This architecturally restrained town house is representative of the many middle-class, side-passage dwellings built following Norfolk’s destruction during the American Revolution. It was erected by William Willoughby soon after he purchased the lot in 1794. Willoughby, a local merchant and contractor, was also a descendant of Thomas Willoughby, original owner of the land on which Norfolk was established in 1682. Dr. Byrham Baylor, who married Willoughby’s granddaughter in 1845, probably added the Doric-columned porch and other Greek Revival touches then. In 1964 the Willoughby-Baylor House was spared the demolitions that swept away much of its neighborhood through purchase by the Historic Norfolk Foundation. The foundation restored the house as a museum illustrating the taste of Norfolk’s middle-income families, a contrast to the more elegant Moses Myers House nearby. Stewardship of the Willoughby-Baylor House was transferred to the Chrysler Museum in 1969.
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