Anne Spencer House
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Anne Spencer House
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Anne Spencer House, Lynchburg VA, November 2008
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| Location | 1313 Pierce St., Lynchburg, Virginia |
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| Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1903 |
| Architectural style | Queen Anne |
| Part of | Pierce Street Historic District (#14000527) |
| NRHP Reference # | 76002224[1] |
| VLR # | 118-0061 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | December 6, 1976 |
| Designated CP | August 25, 2014 |
| Designated VLR | September 21, 1976[2] |
The Anne Spencer House, in Lynchburg, Virginia, USA was, from 1903 to 1975, the home of Anne Spencer, a poet of the Harlem Renaissance.
House overview
The Pierce Street House was built in 1903, by Edward Spencer and the surrounding area includes a large garden and a one-room retreat called Edankraal, where Spencer did much of her writing. The word "Edankraal" is a combination of "Edward," "Anne," and "kraal," the Africaan or Dutch word for enclosure or corral. The house is a two-story modified Queen Anne style, shingle residence. Its two-bay facade is divided equally between a recessed section, covered with a hipped roof, and a slightly projecting gable-roofed bay to the right. On the first floor, one can find a living room, dining room, sunroom, front hall, and kitchen. The second floor includes four bedrooms, a full bath, and a sunroom. The third floor, which is not generally open to the public, was originally a "man cave" for Edward featuring a pool table and half bath, but later became another area for the Spencer's grandchildren.[3][4] The front hall of the house reveals themes central to Anne Spencer’s life. The use of color and mirrors bring the outside in, creating a garden of light and colors on the interior of the Spencer home. Edward’s innovations are evident even in this small space—there’s a phone booth tucked under the staircase, arched doorways, leading into the front hall and leading into the living room. Crown molding graces the ceiling and doorways.[5]
The house was modified periodically as the family grew and their social lives expanded. Edward creatively recycled used materials, incorporating windows, doors, handrails, or other cast-off materials into useful components for his home. A screened porch was eventually enclosed as a cozy den, and the lattice from the porch was re-used to make an entry into the garden. Guggenheimer's Department Store in downtown Lynchburg, Virginia had no more use for some sheets of copper that were in a window display. Edward used the copper to cover, shape, and enhance the recessed paneling below the chair rail of the dining room. Bright, red leather, padded doors, originally part of the all-black Harrison Movie Theater on Fifth Street in Lynchburg, Virginia, were re-used in the kitchen and led to a side porch. Massive, over-sized banister stair railings were salvaged and re-used in the attic “dormitory room” Edward re-furbished for the visiting grandchildren in later years. He also installed a second bathroom there, which is modestly screened only with a simple hand-drawn curtain.[5]
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.[1] It is located in the Pierce Street Historic District.
Spencer in Lynchburg
Anne Spencer was the first Virginian and first African-American to have her poetry included in the Norton Anthology of American Poetry. She was also a committed activist for equal rights, and her house also served as a political center of the community. Spencer and her husband Edward had petitioned to start a local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and hosted James Weldon Johnson in their home as he assisted in creating the chapter.[6]
The Spencers entertained other notable figures as Langston Hughes, Marian Anderson, George Washington Carver, Thurgood Marshall, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and W. E. B. Du Bois.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. and Accompanying photo
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 http://www.annespencermuseum.com/house.php
- ↑ Hines, Emilee. More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Virginia Women. Globe Pequot Press, 2003: 128. ISBN 0-7627-2364-5
External links
- Official website
- Information on the Anne Spencer House from Virginia African American Heritage Program
- Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. VA-1173, "Anne Spencer House, 1313 Pierce Street, Lynchburg, Lynchburg, VA", 5 photos, 1 photo caption page
- HABS No. VA-1173-A, "Anne Spencer House", 3 photos, 1 photo caption page
- Historic district contributing properties in Virginia
- Official website not in Wikidata
- African-American history of Virginia
- African-American museums in Virginia
- Biographical museums in Virginia
- Historic American Buildings Survey in Virginia
- Historic house museums in Virginia
- Houses completed in 1903
- Houses in Lynchburg, Virginia
- Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia
- Literary museums in the United States
- Museums in Lynchburg, Virginia
- National Register of Historic Places in Lynchburg, Virginia
- Queen Anne architecture in Virginia
- Women's museums in the United States
