Nov 11, 1971
National Register of Historic Places - Ellen Glasgow House (Branch-Glascow House)
Statement of Significant: In 1841 David M. Branch, a tobacconist by profession, built the Greek Revival house which stands at one West Main Street. The house was sold at auction the following year and in 1846 it was purchased by Mr. Isaac Davenport, one of Richmond's industrial pioneers. Davenport helped to build the Franklin Manufacturing Company, the first of the famed paper mills that came to Richmond. Upon Davenport's death in April of 1865, his daughter Griffen B. Davenport inherited the house and members of the Davenport family lived here until in 1887 it was sold to Frances T. Glasgow. When her father died in 1916, Miss Ellen Glasgow inherited the house in which she had lived since she was thirteen years old. After publishing The Descendant anonymously at the age of fifteen, Miss Glasgow went on to write The Voice of the People which was the first of a series of novels that showed "her boldness in approaching realistically material which had too long been bathed in nostalgic sentiment." In 1938 Miss Glasgow was the sixth woman to be elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters and her last novel In This Our Life won her the Pulitzer Prize in 1942. The author's autobiography The Woman Within, published after her death, makes references to the Main Street residence. Not only was most of her writing done in this house, but Miss Glasgow once said that except for a farm house in Connecticut, her Main Street home was the only place in which she could write. In her study decorated with the paper she had imported from England; Ellen Glasgow drew on Richmond life as a back- ground for much of her work. After Miss Glasgow's death in 1945, her brother Archer Glasgow presented the house to the Virginia Historical Society. Finally in 1947 the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities purchased the Main Street house with money collected through contributions. Friends and relatives of Ellen Glasgow contributed generously to preserve the house as a landmark to this noted Virginia authoress. The William Byrd Branch of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia presently leases the house for office space.
National Register of Historic Places - Ellen Glasgow House (Branch-Glascow House)
Statement of Significant: In 1841 David M. Branch, a tobacconist by profession, built the Greek Revival house which stands at one West Main Street. The house was sold at auction the following year and in 1846 it was purchased by Mr. Isaac Davenport, one of Richmond's industrial pioneers. Davenport helped to build the Franklin Manufacturing Company, the first of the famed paper mills that came to Richmond. Upon Davenport's death in April of 1865, his daughter Griffen B. Davenport inherited the house and members of the Davenport family lived here until in 1887 it was sold to Frances T. Glasgow. When her father died in 1916, Miss Ellen Glasgow inherited the house in which she had lived since she was thirteen years old. After publishing The Descendant anonymously at the age of fifteen, Miss Glasgow went on to write The Voice of the People which was the first of a series of novels that showed "her boldness in approaching realistically material which had too long been bathed in nostalgic sentiment." In 1938 Miss Glasgow was the sixth woman to be elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters and her last novel In This Our Life won her the Pulitzer Prize in 1942. The author's autobiography The Woman Within, published after her death, makes references to the Main Street residence. Not only was most of her writing done in this house, but Miss Glasgow once said that except for a farm house in Connecticut, her Main Street home was the only place in which she could write. In her study decorated with the paper she had imported from England; Ellen Glasgow drew on Richmond life as a back- ground for much of her work. After Miss Glasgow's death in 1945, her brother Archer Glasgow presented the house to the Virginia Historical Society. Finally in 1947 the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities purchased the Main Street house with money collected through contributions. Friends and relatives of Ellen Glasgow contributed generously to preserve the house as a landmark to this noted Virginia authoress. The William Byrd Branch of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia presently leases the house for office space.
Nov 11, 1971
Posted Date
Jul 12, 2023
Historical Record Date
Nov 11, 1971
Source Name
National Register of Historic Places
Source Website
Posted Date
Sep 27, 2021
Source Name
Library of Congress
