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According to architectural historian Christopher Novelli, Battersea originally had an exposed red brick Flemish bond facade. (Photo courtesy Battersea Historic Foundation)
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The villa's original 18th-century Chinese Chippendale staircase was recently restored. (Photo by Jay Paul)
In Colonial America, before beginning construction on a new plantation house, a wealthy landowner and his master builder often consulted architectural pattern books for ideas. There, they found floor plans, decoration and ornament elevations to inform the look of their grand new home. One of these references was “The Architecture of A. Palladio in Four Books,” a short treatise on building design by 16th-century Italian architect Andrea Palladio.
It is highly likely that the design of Battersea villa, a Palladian house built in Petersburg circa 1758 for Col. John Banister III — a Revolutionary patriot, statesman, mill owner and tobacco planter, later elected Petersburg’s first mayor — was heavily influenced by the works of Palladio. Christopher Novelli, an architectural historian with the Virginia Department of Historical Resources, also posits that Thomas Jefferson, who was himself a proponent of Palladian architecture and had family and professional ties with Banister, may have had some influence on the design.
True to its Palladian character, the house — with its sparse, crisp series of volumes and pediments — is a mirror image of itself, symmetrical and balanced. The architecture, Novelli says, is elegant in its simplicity. One of the oldest and best-preserved houses of its kind in the country, Battersea villa resembles a row of five brick volumes. A two-story block at the center containing the primary living spaces is flanked by a pair of hyphens (connecting links) that lead to identical pavilions, each rising to 1 1/2 stories. The upper half-stories were used by enslaved domestic workers.
Just one room deep, Battersea’s interior unfolds left and right from the front entrance, offering straight sight lines into every room on the ground floor. “It gives the house a sense of depth and greater space,” notes John Zeugner, who serves on the Battersea Foundation board of directors. Classic elements of the Anglo-Palladian aesthetic — the richly detailed cornices, marble fireplaces, large windows and high-profile wainscot panels, not to mention the recently restored Chinese Chippendale staircase — enhance the interiors.
Although no documentation on the original construction has been found, it is thought Battersea, like other houses of its day, was probably designed by Banister with his master builder and that enslaved and indentured craftsmen played a significant role in its construction. In 1832, Judge John Fitzhugh May purchased the villa and made extensive changes to the house and grounds.
Today Battersea villa, which stands on the bluffs of the Appomattox River, is a rare example of 18th-century Anglo-Palladian architecture. It is a Virginia Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The ongoing restoration of the villa and grounds is led by the Battersea Foundation, a nonprofit organization established in 2006 to preserve the historic property. Battersea is open to the public for tours and special events.
