Fairview house now historic, available for rent

Fairview was only on the market for two days before Jennifer Kilgore put in an offer immediately after visiting the house.

That was 10 years ago.

After using it as a private residence, Kilgore began to rent the house at 2416 Lowesville Road in western Amherst County near Lowesville during the past year to visitors as a vacation rental home.

Last month, the house — distinguished by its tower — was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Sandi Esposito, an architectural historian and volunteer with the Amherst Historical Society, helped Kilgore with the application process.

It wasn’t very difficult to determine when Fairview was built.

In the dining room window, an etching in the old, original glass reads, “This house was built in 1867/Fairview July 22 B.M. ’87.”

B.M. Davidson wrote that in 1887 when he inherited the house from his father, Samuel Miller.

The bigger mystery was determining Fairview’s architect.

Esposito said it was suggested to her that it looked like the work of Robert Burkholder, a prominent architect in Lynchburg.

Burkholder was, for example, the architect for the Court Street Baptist Church, another building on the historic register.

Although Esposito wasn’t able to find any documents to prove he was the architect, she did find out from a court case that Burkholder and Nathan C. Taliaferro, the builder of the house, knew one another.

“Both lived near each other,” Esposito said. “Also, the way it looks, (the house is) very different. He was known to do his own creation style with buildings.”

The style of the house is described in the National Register’s registration form as mid-19th century Italian villa.

“Fairview is a creative variation of a popular style …,” the registration states.

Its three-story tower is its prominent feature, complemented by round windows and intricate millwork inside the house.

The kitchen, a 1920s addition to the home, has been updated with modern appliances. Kilgore said that unfourtanely, at some point in the house’s history, the floor was replaced with linoleum.

She restored it with bricks from the 1920s, which she was able to find at a Lynchburg warehouse.

Kilgore said she hopes to do similar renovations to the living room where a mirror with an elaborately hand-carved woodwork was removed.

However, examples of the detailed woodwork are still prominent throughout the house and in the staircase.

Esposito said she believes, based on an inscription written on the back of a door underneath the staircase, that William Birch was the carpenter responsible for the interior woodwork.

It reads, “William Birch made this door/It is a very good one.”

She wasn’t sure who William Birch was because it’s a very common name. All she knows is that “he was very proud of his work.”

During Fairview’s short history as a rental, guests have already celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays there, and there are plans for a wedding at the house next month.

In the guest book, where Kilgore encourages renters to write their comments. Several visiting kids wrote about how much they enjoyed the house and drew pictures.

“It’s really touching,” Kilgore said. “It’s very sweet, very endearing.”

Kilgore said she hopes eventually to develop Fairview as a wellness retreat where people can experience “tranquility” through arts, yoga, and the view of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

“It feels so pure (here),” she said.