Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

The land that surrounded the churchyard, with the exception of the Wythe House land, was all owned in 1745 by John Blair, who owned, in addition, the entire square on which the Blair House stands. Blair erected "Tenements" or rental buildings on the lots, three on the lots near the churchyard, and one adjoining his own property in the next square. The colonial lot numbers are confused in this section, so an effort has been made to glean information from fragmentary data which will determine the character of the buildings on the various sites in the area, which has been correlated under the designations lots A, B, C, D, E, and F.

The lots immediately back of the present Armistead house were three in number, one along Prince George Street, A; one between A and the present Armistead house, B; lot C, east of A and B. Lot D was between C and the Wythe house. Lot F was the site of the present Marston Christian (Minor) house.

Several buildings or tenements on lots C and B, erected between 1745 and 1747 by Blair, were leased to Kidd and Kendall in 1769, who advertised in the Virginia Gazette of October 5th:

"At the Lead Manufactory, behind the Church, may be had all sorts of sheet lead, pipes for conveying water from the tops of houses, cisterns, milk pans (which will keep milk cool in the height of summer), and every other article in the plumbing business performed in the neatest manner, by Kidd & Kendall."

After Kidd & Kendall removed to another location, James Gardner, the gardener at the College leased the property. About this time, John Blair died, and his property eras offered for sale by his heirs:

"November 21, 1771 — Pursuant to the will of our deceased Father, we propose, on the 11th Day of next Month, to sell to the highest bidder four Tenements near the Church, in the said city… There are tenants in all of them at present, but we will deliver them to the Purchasers at Christmas next, except one of the said four, which Mr. John Holt is to possess till the 22d Day of next July …
John Blair) Executors.
James Blair)"

The executors sold lots C & D to the lessee, James Gardner in 1772, for £133, a large sum, reserving a passage twelve feet wide and 96 feet long "from the northwest corner of the Church Wall to the lot lately purchased by Robert Hyland". Hyland's lot was A. John Holt occupied B, which he later purchased.

Lot A evidently had a small dwelling on it which Hyland leased, and later bought. He died before completing payment for it, and it reverted to the Blair heirs. In 1783 Anne Blair sold A, along with B, which had a substantial house on it, to James Wilson, gardener at the College. He sold it in 1786 to the famous Charles Bellini, the first professor of Modern Languages in any American college.

Bellini died in 1803, very indebted to the College. His slaves and furniture and probably his interest in the house, were sold to defray the debt. In 1815, Robert Saunders, acting as Trustee sold the entire group of lots (A, B, C, D) to Robert Greenhow. He in turn sold them to William Bowden in 1818. Bowden owned them until his death, and from 1828 to 1860 they were charged to his estate, and for many years his widow lived there, even after her son Lemuel J. Bowden built the large brick house (Armistead) in front of hers. Mr. Charles described the old Bellini house as it was when Mrs. Bowden lived in 3 it at the outbreak of the War Between the States:

"… The only house once on this square, that has been removed within the memory of this writer (which covers a period of seventy years) was a small one-and-a-half frame building standing not far in the rear of the Bowden house. This quaint little house with its dormer windows, front and back porch and shed room attached, together with a vegetable and flower garden in which there were many choice fruit trees, was the home of Mrs. Mildred Bowden, mother of Lemuel J.Bowden, the eminent lawyer, who lived in the mansion right in front of it. This old residence was razed not long after the war."

The house on lot F (site of Marston Christian, or Minor House) was sold be Blair to Col. James Innes, who sold it to Joseph Thompson, a gardener. The property was advertised for sale by Henry Tazewell, an attorney, in 1782, at which time in was described in the Virginia Gazette of September 14:

"The lot and houses in the city of Williamsburg, whereon Joseph Thompson now lived, adjoining the lots of the Honourable John Blair. On this lot is a good dwelling-house with four rooms on the lower and three on the upper floor, a good smoke house, dairy, kitchen and other convenient out houses well paled in. The situation is pleasant and healthy and an indisputable title will be made to the purchaser."

The presence of an old house and outbuildings on that lot is further borne out by Mr. Charles, who in discussing his own house ("F") said, "… this house was built not many years before the War, but there stood on these premises a very old kitchen with immense chimney and huge fireplaces, having an iron crane and other appurtenances for hanging pots and kettles. The upstairs of this very old outhouse was used as a sleeping quarter for servants. This quaint old house was pulled down many years ago by they present owner of these promises".

There are indications of all the buildings mentioned on the Frenchman's map. In addition, one is shown near the Peninsula hardware, and Mr. Charles states that the rear portion of the building is early, although it was extensively rebuilt after the War.

Virginia Gazette (ed. Dixon) 31 July 1779, p. 1, Col. 2