Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
See link(s) below to view additional documentation.
VLR Listing Date 05/13/1969
NRHP Listing Date 11/12/1969
DHR's Virginia Board of Historic Resources easement
NRHP Reference Number 69000344
With its sectioned massing, Battersea displays perhaps best the Anglo-Palladian influence on Virginia’s finer colonial plantation houses. The elegant but compact house was built in 1768 for John Banister, a Revolutionary delegate, congressman, and framer of the Articles of Confederation. Remodeled more than once, the house displays three-part windows and much trim, both inside and out, which dates from the early 19th century. The elaborate Chinese lattice stair, however, based on a published design by the English architect William Halfpenny, is original and is the finest example of its type in the state. The center block at one time had a two-level portico, of which parts of the lower tier remain. Despite the development of much of the plantation’s former acreage, the house preserves a rural setting along the Appomattox River. Battersea is owned and exhibited by the city of Petersburg.
An updated nomination, including a detailed inventory of historic resources on the 35.5-acre property, archaeological research, and clarified periods, areas and levels of significance for Battersea was accepted in 2006.
[VLR Listed: 12/7/2005 & 4/12/2006; NRHP Listed: 1/27/2006, 5/26/2006 & 9/14/2006]
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 26, 2021
