Samuel Taylor Suit Cottage

Suit, Samuel Taylor, Cottage
Location WV 9, Berkeley Springs, West Virginia
Coordinates 39°37′38″N 78°13′49″W / 39.62722°N 78.23028°W / 39.62722; -78.23028Coordinates: 39°37′38″N 78°13′49″W / 39.62722°N 78.23028°W / 39.62722; -78.23028
Built 1885
Architect Mullett,A.B. and Ashford, Snowden
Architectural style Late Victorian
NRHP Reference # 80004035
Added to NRHP November 28, 1980[1]

The Samuel Taylor Suit Cottage, also known as the Berkeley Castle, is located on a hill above Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. The castle-like house was built for Colonel Samuel Taylor Suit of Washington, D.C. as a personal retreat near the spa town, beginning in 1885. It was not complete by the time of his death in 1888 and was finished in the early 1890s for his widow, Rosa Pelham Suit, whom Suit had first met at Berkeley Springs. The post 1888 work is of noticeably inferior quality.[2]

The fifteen-room interior features a ballroom 50 feet (15.2 m) wide and 40 ft (12.2 m) long. The design is attributed to Washington architect Alfred B. Mullett, who is alleged to have drawn a rough sketch of the plan on a tablecloth at the Berkeley Springs Hotel. The design may have been based on elements of Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom.[3] Detailed design and construction supervision was carried out by Snowden Ashford, who designed Washington's Eastern Market.[4] Mrs. Suit entertained lavishly at the house until her money ran out and the property was sold in 1913.[2]

Snowden Ashford, also credited as an architect, apprenticed for Mullett.

The house is now privately owned and is available for rentals for special occasions.

References

  1. ↑ National Park Service (2008-04-15). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. 1 2 Rodney S. Collins (July 10, 1980). "National Register of Historic Places Nomination: Samuel Taylor Suit Cottage" (pdf). National Park Service.
  3. ↑ "Colonel Suit". History. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 2011-11-22.
  4. ↑ Sullian, Jack (Spring 2005). "The Life and Loves of S.T. Suit: A Jug-Filler's Story" (PDF). Bottles and Extras. Federation of Historic Bottle Collectors. pp. 66–69. Retrieved 2009-02-10.

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