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Stanton Hall

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Coordinates: 31°33′45″N 91°24′03″W / 31.562621°N 91.400730°W / 31.562621; -91.400730
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This article is about the house in the United States. For the house in Derbyshire Dales, see Stanton Hall, Stanton in Peak.

Stanton Hall
Stanton Hall in 2024
Stanton Hall is located in Mississippi
Stanton Hall
Stanton Hall is located in the United States
Stanton Hall
Location401 High Street, Natchez, Mississippi
Coordinates31°33′45″N 91°24′03″W / 31.562621°N 91.400730°W / 31.562621; -91.400730
Built1851
Built byThomas Rose
Architectural styleGreek Revival
NRHP reference No.74002254
USMS No.001-NAT-0188-NHL-NRD-ML
Significant dates
Added to NRHPMay 30, 1974[2]
Designated NHLMay 30, 1974[3]
Designated USMSMarch 21, 1995[1]

Stanton Hall, also known as Belfast, is a Greek Revival mansion within the Natchez On-Top-of-the-Hill Historic District at 401 High Street in Natchez, Mississippi. Built in the 1850s, it is one of the most opulent antebellum mansions to survive in the southeastern United States. It is now operated as a historic house museum by the Pilgrimage Garden Club. The house was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974;[3][4] a pivotal property inside the Natchez On-Top-of-the-Hill Historic District in 1979;[5] and a Mississippi Landmark in 1995.[1]

Description

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Stanton Hall occupies an entire 2-acre (0.81 ha) city block north of downtown Natchez, bounded by High, Commerce, Monroe, and Pearl Streets. The property is ringed by wrought iron fencing with elaborate gate posts. The house is a three-story brick structure, plastered and painted white. It was designed and built by Thomas Rose, a local builder and English immigrant.

Its front entrance features a two-story Greek temple portico, with four fluted cast-iron Corinthian columns supporting an entablature and gabled pediment. Spaces between the columns have decorative iron railings, repeated in a second-floor balcony railing set under the portico. The main roof is hipped, and truncated with a large cupola at the center. The interior is elaborately decorated, using materials such as imported Italian marble, textiles from Paris and chandeliers made of glass and bronze.[4]

History

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Photograph of Stanton Hall by Frances Benjamin Johnston, 1938

Stanton Hall was built during 1851–1857 for Frederick Stanton, a cotton broker. Stanton named it "Belfast", but only lived in it for nine months before he died of yellow fever. The house's scale and opulence made it a great financial burden on his heirs, but it survived the American Civil War, and in 1890 was made home to the Stanton College for Young Ladies. In 1940 it was acquired by the Pilgrimage Garden Club,[4] which uses it as its headquarters and operates it as a museum and event venue.

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The house's insides have appeared in ABC's mini-series North and South as the Mains' mansion interiors.[Note 1] The house was also seen briefly in Show Boat (1951).

In South and West: From a Notebook, Joan Didion writes that Ben Toledano's wife suggested she visit Stanton Hall as well as the Asphodel Plantation, the Oakley Plantation and the Rosedown Plantation to understand the South better.[6]

Notes

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  1. ^ The exteriors were filmed at the Boone Hall Plantation, near Charleston, South Carolina

References

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  1. ^ a b "Mississippi Landmarks" (PDF). Mississippi Department of Archives and History. May 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 9, 2010. Retrieved April 20, 2009.
  2. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  3. ^ a b "Stanton Hall". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved October 23, 2007.
  4. ^ a b c Paul Goeldner (January 8, 1974). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Stanton Hall" (pdf). National Park Service. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) and Accompanying 3 photos, exterior and interior, from 1973 and undated. (1.35 MB)
  5. ^ Mary Warren Miller (May 31, 1979). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Natchez On-Top-of-the-Hill Historic District". National Park Service. and accompanying photos
  6. ^ Didion, Joan (2017). South and West: From a Notebook. London, U.K.: 4th Estate. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-00-825717-0.
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Media related to Stanton Hall (Natchez, Mississippi) at Wikimedia Commons

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