Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 08/17/1994
NRHP Listing Date 09/30/1994
NRHP Reference Number 94001180
An elegant but restrained essay in a rural Federal idiom, Norwood is situated in Clarke County’s Chapel Rural Historic District, at the end of a maple-shaded lane amid immaculately maintained grounds. The house is on what was originally part of a 1760 land patent from Thomas, Lord Fairfax and was built around 1819 for Lewis Neill who inherited the property from his grandfather. Although expanded with later wings, the original two-story core with its exceptionally large windows, its unusual transverse hall, and spacious double parlors remains little altered. Nearly all the original woodwork is intact, including the wooden Federal mantels based on Philadelphia marble prototypes. The property was given its present name by William D. McGuire, who purchased the farm in 1858. Norwood is one of Clarke County’s few important Federal houses to have been built by descendants of Irish settlers from Pennsylvania rather than members of Tidewater Virginia families of English descent.
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
Updated: May 11, 2021
