Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

COLONIAL LOTS # 233 & 234
"Buildings East of Ball House."
Block 28, # ---
June 21, 1932.

DIGEST OF DATA

Dwelling House:	Built by Philip Ludwell c-1721 as tenement to lease to tenants. Valued at £125 in 1770. No architectural data. Just east of Ball house.
Mansion House:	Town house of Ludwells of Green Spring. Built c-1721. Valued at £300 in 1770. Just east of dwelling house. No architectural data.

COLONIAL LOTS # 233 & 234
"Buildings East of Ball House."
Block 28, # ---
June 21, 1932.

The two colonial lots east of the Peyton Randolph house were owned by Colonel Philip Ludwell at the beginning of the eighteenth century who probably built a house on each about 1721. On the first lot east of the Randolph house was a "tenement" which was leased to tenants, on the second lot was the "Mansion House" where the Ludwell family maintained its town residence.

In 1755 the tenement was advertised in the Virginia Gazette:

October 17, 1755.

To be Let, and Entered on Immediately,
A Very commodious Dwelling-House, with a Well of very good Water, Out-Houses, Garden pailed in, and other conveniences, in perfect good Order, and very Convenient for a private Family, or Lodgers, and situated in one of the most agreeable Parts of the Town: …
PHILLIP LUDWELL.

(Virginia Gazette - William Hunter, Ed.)

In 1769 the mansion house was rented by John Warrington, a tailor.

After Ludwell's death the property was divided among his heirs. On July 7, 1770 Richard Henry Lee wrote William Lee that the Mansion had fallen to his share.

2

In a memorandum of the division of the estate, "the Warrington tenements where Colonel Ludwell used to lodge" were valued at £300. The "tenement adjoining the Speaker's [Peyton Randolph's]" was valued at £125.

In 1773 William Lee advertised the mansion house for sale, describing it as "the large wooden house on the back street next door but one to Mr. Speaker's".

The tenement was devised to Lucy Ludwell Paradise and was confiscated as Loyalist property during the Revolution.

There is no architectural information about these early buildings.