Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 04/17/1990
NRHP Listing Date 12/28/1990
NRHP Reference Number 90002000
A monument to affluence, the splendid mansion of Scaleby in Clarke County is one of Virginia’s most ambitious manifestations of the American Country House movement. Emulating the stately homes of England, a proper country house required a mansion of a scale and design sufficient to inspire awe. Complementary heroic gates, formal gardens, and park-like grounds were all necessary ingredients of the formula. With its forthright classicism and red brick walls, Scaleby evokes a more American than European image though its scale is European. It was designed by Howard Sill of Baltimore for Mr. and Mrs. Henry Brook Gilpin, and built in 1909-11. Mrs. Gilpin, the former Hattie Newcomer, was a Baltimore heiress who in 1907 decided to establish a country estate in fashionable Clarke County. She named the place Scaleby after the Gilpin ancestral home in England. Owned by the Gilpin family until 1986, the estate remains in private hands. Scaleby contributes to the Chapel Rural Historic District.
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: December 29, 2022
