Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 06/16/1999
NRHP Listing Date 08/05/1999
NRHP Reference Number 99000965
Lessland, located in north-central Orange County, is an excellent example of a post-bellum Italianate plantation house. Constructed in 1871 for Joseph J. Halsey, a locally prominent lawyer, the house replaced an earlier dwelling on the same site. Virtually unaltered since its construction, the two-story brick house at Lessland, fronted by a colossal Ionic portico, was still owned by the Halsey family at the time of its 1999 listing in the registers. Rare for buildings of the period, the construction records, materials lists, and original plans of the house produced by the firm of Lee & Jones, “Architects & Housebuilders of Culpeper,” still survive. The Lessland farm also includes a mid-1850s frame law office with a portico and other 19th-century outbuildings such as a meat house and icehouse.
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: September 19, 2022
