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The Blacksburg landmark known as the Phillips-Ronald House was built ca. 1852 for John R. Phillips, a merchant and physician, who also was a director of the Olin and Preston Institute, a forerunner of the Virginia Tech. Phillips experienced financial difficulties and sold the house, which he apparently never occupied, in 1853 to Nicholas M. Ronald, a merchant and banker. In 1986 the property was purchased by the town of Blacksburg, which today uses the house for offices and meeting rooms. The Phillips-Ronald House is one of the few antebellum dwellings in the Montgomery County region to employ a one-story, double-pile format. For many years it has been known popularly as Five Chimneys for the conspicuous quintet of chimneys that project from its side walls. The late Victorian porch was added shortly after 1891 when the Phillips-Ronald House was sold by the Ronald family to O. C. Peters.
The Phillips-Ronald House was listed in the registers under the Prehistoric and Historic Resources of Montgomery County MPD.
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
Nomination Form
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
