Brockenbrough House Renovations Near Completion

Contact: Jenni Brockman
Phone: 804-443-3357
Fax: 804-443-6781

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 Tappahannock (May 20, 2005) - Members of a British historic preservation organization were the first visitors in two years to the Brockenbrough House on the campus of St. Margaret’s School. More than twenty representatives of London’s Georgian Group made a stop at the historic house, which is in the final phases of an extensive renovation, as part of a recent eight-day tour of Georgian architecture (c. 1730-1800) in Tidewater Virginia.

“It’s really very appropriate,” said Ellen LeCompte, an SMS alumna who serves on the school’s Brockenbrough House Committee and coordinated the tour. “The Georgian Group’s focus is on preserving architectural integrity, and Brockenbrough House still retains an amazing amount of its original architectural material from the 1760’s.”

Led by Richmond native Ralph Harvard, tour participants took a close look at the home’s original paneling and millwork, unique rounded chimneys and Flemish bond basement walls. Harvard, a well-known New York interior designer, chairs the American Friends of the Georgian Group. Five members of the American Friends also participated in the tour, which included such local landmarks as Stratford Hall, Menokin, Rosewell, Christ Church, Brooks Bank, Blandfield, Elmwood, Sabine Hall and Mount Airy.

  







The historic Brockenbrough House for the Georgian Group’s recent tour.

Some of those visiting--or welcoming visitors to--the historic
Brockenbrough House for the Georgian Group’s recent tour including
the following. Front row: Tour Coordinator Ellen LeCompte of
Sterling Travel. Middle row: Lord Peter Rees of London,
Brockenbrough House Committee member and Interior Design
Chair Charlotte Haile Frischkorn, St. Margaret’s Head of School
Margaret R. Broad, Trissa Orange from the Isle of Wight, and
Ralph Harvard of the American Friends of the Georgian Group.
Back row: Gordon Lohr of the Association for the Preservation
of Virginia Antiquities, Bagley Reid of New York City, and
Wyndham Westerdale of London


The renovation of Brockenbrough House has been made possible by a number of generous foundations, corporations and individuals, including the family of the late Dr. Austin Brockenbrough Chinn, the Marietta McNeil Morgan and Samuel Tate Morgan, Jr. Foundation, the Northern Neck Branch of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, the Ann Carter Robins and Walter R. Robins, Jr., Foundation, the Roller-Bottimore Foundation and Southside Bank.

Work on the Brockenbrough House is guided by a volunteer advisory committee that has included David H. Charlton of White Stone, President of Church Schools in the Diocese of Virginia; Charlotte Haile Frischkorn of Richmond, an alumna who serves as Design Chair; Robin Gorham of Tappahannock; Julia T. Henley and Ellen Metzger LeCompte, both of Richmond; Gordon Lohr, Director of the APVA Revolving Fund; George and Monecia Helton Taylor of Fredericksburg; Nancy Wood of Ruther Glen; and advisor Joseph Dye Lahendro, AIA.