1400 College Ave

The only surviving piece of Fredericksburg’s Alms House is the “duplex” at 1400 College Avenue. This building was constructed in 1883—the year after the City of Fredericksburg purchased property from Frank Beckwith for the locality’s poor house—as an addition to Beckwith’s former residence. After the State Normal and Industrial School purchased roughly seven acres of the Alms House property in 1911, the institution dismantled the building thereon, dividing it into two separate buildings. This 1883 addition was relocated and repurposed to serve as the “Faculty House” or “Faculty Annex,” while the older portion—including the circa-1877 portion that was Beckwith’s residence—was readapted as the “Dean’s House.” Between 1924 and 1925, the Faculty House was expanded with a two-story frame addition that became known as the “Faculty Annex.” In the early-1930s, the entire faculty building was relocated and divided once more, creating the two separate structures now standing at 1400 College Avenue and 1205 Dandridge Street. 

Citations:

Sanborn Fire Insurance Company 1919, 1927.

Spencer, Michael. 2014. “College Heights Walking Tour.” Unpublished manuscript. Copy on file at UMW Department of Historic Preservation, Fredericksburg, Virginia, courtesy of Professor Michael Spencer. 

Spencer, Michael. 2014. “Alms (Dean’s) House History.” Unpublished excerpt from the University of Mary Washington’s (UMW) Draft Campus Preservation Plan. Copy on file at UMW Department of Historic Preservation, Fredericksburg, Virginia, courtesy of Professor Michael Spencer.