Garden week mansion has tales to tell to visitors in Suffolk

By Shirley Brinkley

Correspondent

As a boy, Mickey Boyette developed an appreciation for the Darden mansion on Suffolk's South Broad Street.

When Boyette's father took his family on Sunday afternoon rides in Suffolk, the car would always stop for a few moments in front of the elegant home at 104 S. Broad St.

"I always wanted to live in the house," Boyette said. "My father delivered groceries there when he was 11 or 12. He would tell us stories, and I repeated those stories to my children."

On New Year's Eve 2000, Boyette's father called to tell him that the house was for sale.

Although the property was in disrepair, Boyette purchased his dream home, working many hours to restore the interior and exterior, as well as the grounds.

The refurbished Darden mansion has won acclaim, with features on the HGTV channel, and in Virginia Living magazine.

For those who didn't see the show on TV or read the magazine, the mansion will make its Nansemond River Garden Club's Historic Garden Tour debut Friday, April 25.

The walking tour, titled "If These Walls Could Talk," is being held during the 75th anniversary of Historic Garden Week in Virginia, presented by the Garden Club of Virginia.

During the restoration, Boyette preserved the grandeur of many Victorian features throughout the residence. There are eight working fireplaces, nine bedrooms and 16 exterior doors.

Upon entering, a small foyer opens into a spacious entrance hall that was heated by a fireplace.

The exquisite staircase, reminiscent of one featured in the classic film, "Gone With The Wind," leads to a Louis Comfort Tiffany Palladian window on the second floor.

On the ceiling, high above the stairs, is a lovely Tiffany-domed skylight.

The beautiful mahogany wainscot, floors and ornate columns in the hall have been painstakingly cleaned by hand.

During the cleaning process, it was discovered that an inlaid rosewood, Greek key pattern on the floor had been hidden for years.

To the left of the entrance hall is the gold-colored music room furnished with burgundy chairs and drapes. Lovely china is displayed in a gilded curio cabinet.

Two pianos are in the room, including an 1845 Chickering Case grand piano, once owned by Gov. Littleton Waller Tazewell.

The dining room, furnished with a mammouth mahogany table and chairs, could be pictured with the Dardens and their eight children seated for dinner.

The chairs have "angel wings," said Boyette, displaying the unusual carvings on the legs.

The original chandelier, crystal lamps and serving pieces, and the small, fan windows, are believed to have been made by Tiffany, Boyette said.

Behind the dining room, the original in-house phone is on a wall in the spacious butler's pantry.

The front parlor, with its Victorian rose walls, is formal but comfortable, and is home to two lovely gilded, antique clocks and mirrors.

Large pocket doors with mahogany on one side, and tiger-oak on the other, open between the parlor and the former study/learning room. Today, Boyette and his wife, Denise, use this room as a family area.

The couple learned the history of their home by talking with Frances Musick, the youngest of the Darden siblings.

A large area at the rear of the house with its antique, subway tile walls, was the "slaughter room" where Darden, an avid hunter, dressed the meat. Darden cured the meat in the basement.

The backstairs leading to the basement were originally the main staircase in the entrance hall until Darden replaced it with the grand staircase. He believed the original was not stately enough for his mansion.

A former servant's bedroom is a luxurious bathroom on the first floor.

Two other Lakeside homes join the Darden mansion on the tour:

- 102 S. Broad St. The house was built on the same property the Darden mansion occupies today. After 21 years, the home was moved to make way for its new next-door neighbor.

The mahogany baby grand piano in the living room was built in 1880, and is 10 years older than the walls surrounding it.

Most of the flooring and woodwork throughout the house are original. When a large, new kitchen was built during a renovation, the original kitchen became a family sitting area.

On the day of the tour, visitors will have an opportunity to enjoy music being played on the wrap-around porch.

- 201 Linden Ave. The impressive Victorian home was built circa 1908. The woodwork, elaborate gingerbread carvings and brass lamps hanging in the parlor and dining room are original to the house.

There are oriental collections throughout the house and the framed Chinese children's quilts in the back hall were acquired during travels in China.

There are several pieces of antique furniture in the two parlors - a mahogany Empire card table circa1820, and a Victorian settee set and inlaid sewing table, both circa1880.

The dining room features a late 1800's French bookcase topped with a collection of sparkling crystal.

In 2006, the present owners remodeled, and brought their home back to its original grandeur.

In the kitchen, handmade cherry cabinets rise to the 11-foot ceiling. A rolling library ladder allows access to the top.

A screened area adjacent to the garage is a comfortable place for relaxing and entertaining.

Other highlights of the tour include:

- Cedar Hill Cemetery. The 37-acre cemetery at Mahan and Main streets, dates back to 1802.

The site was once the home of John Constant, who is believed to be the first permanent English settler of what became the town of Suffolk; of the post-Revolution Union Church, and a Union encampment during the Civil War.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Register of Historic Places, the cemetery was restored by the Nansemond River Garden Club in 2001.

Two Garden Day programs with Victorian-era themes at the cemetery include a discussion interpreting the symbols on headstones and/or a short walking tour emphasizing funeral practices and history.

- Heritage Garden. Composed of native plants, the garden was presented as a gift to the city of Suffolk. It earned the NRGC the prestigious Garden Club of Virginia Commonwealth Award.

Other Club projects included a scatter garden surrounded by a Victorian-era fence, and the restoration of the 19th-century marble fountain.

Ticket holders are invited to attend special events held throughout the day, at the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts, 110 W. Finney Ave.

- Sandy Hart and Wanda Hall, floral artists who prepared arrangements for Queen Elizabeth's visit to the Virginia Governor's Mansion in 2007, will demonstrate creative floral arrangements.

- Paige Pollard, the Commonwealth Preservation Group's resident expert, will emphasize the benefits of preservation available to homeowners and investment properties through the use of historic rehabilitation tax credits.

- Nineteenth-century faux painting techniques by Susanne Collins will be on display at the Suffolk Museum and Art Gallery on Bosley Avenue. Her expertise lies in marbleizing, wood graining, and stenciling walls and moldings.

Shirley Brinkley, vptabwriter@yahoo.com