Talk:Virginia House

Virginia House has been listed as one of the Art and architecture good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.
Review: April 7, 2014. (Reviewed version).

A fact from Virginia House appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 14 December 2009 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that Virginia House in Richmond, Virginia, was once a priory in Warwickshire, England, and was used to entertain Queen Elizabeth I?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2009/December.

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GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Virginia House/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Caponer (talk · contribs) 23:34, 3 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Dr. Blofeld, I've completed an initial review of the article, and I judge the article to be well written and exhibiting the criteria for Good Article status. I'll be reviewing the article more thoroughly in the coming days, and will leave my comments and suggestions here for your review as soon as my review is completed. Please let me know if you have any questions for me in the meantime! Thanks! -- Caponer (talk) 23:34, 3 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

GA review (see here for what the criteria are, and here for what they are not)
It is reasonably well written. a (prose, no copyvios, spelling and grammar): b (MoS for lead, layout, word choice, fiction, and lists): It is factually accurate and verifiable. a (references): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR): It is broad in its coverage. a (major aspects): b (focused): It follows the neutral point of view policy. Fair representation without bias: It is stable. No edit wars, etc.: It is illustrated by images, where possible and appropriate. a (images are tagged and non-free images have fair use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):
Overall: Pass/Fail:
· · ·

Dr. Blofeld, I've completed my thorough review of this article, and it most certainly meets all the criteria for Good Article status! I have a few comments and suggestions that should be addressed before the article's passage to GA status! Once again, excellent work Dr.! -- Caponer (talk) 02:06, 5 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Lead

I would mention in the lead that Virginia House is situated in the Windsor Farms neighborhood of Richmond.
In the Lead, Virginia House is described as being from Warwick Priory, but there is no mention of Warwickshire. Warwickshire is then mentioned in the Structure section, but not Warwick. We should be consistent with whether to mention the Warwick Priory being in the city of Warwick or the ceremonial county of Warwickshire, but we shouldn't use them interchangeably. I know Warwick is in Warwickshire, but let's choose one geographical descriptor.

History

In the first paragraph, the added gables are described as being "Dutch," but aren't they described in the NRHP registration form as "Flemish"?
In the second paragraph of the History section, the Weddells are first mentioned as purchasing the remainder of the manor house, but there is no introduction of Alexander W. Weddell and his wife, Virginia. Could there be at least one sentence introducing their names, and describing their professions and/or the sources of their wealth to make such a purchase?
Should the following sentence read "...the Weddells were heavily frowned upon"?
Also in the second paragraph, the Weddells are first referred to in the plural, and later in the text, Alexander W. Weddell is referred to singularly. Should we be consistent with our mentions of the Weddells, or when one Weddell is mentioned, should their full name be stated?
I would mention in this section, along with the cost of the land lot, that this lot is located in the Windsor Farms neighborhood.
At the end of the History section, perhaps note that Virginia House was added to the NRHP in 1990 because it is "a noteworthy representative of a peculiar residential building type prevalent in the late-nineteenth and early- twentieth-century period of American architecture."

Structure

It is listed as the "Thomas Hawkins Priory" in the prose here, but shouldn't it be more appropriately mentioned as the Thomas Hawkins-era Warwick Priory?
In the second paragraph of the Exterior subsection, should it be mentioned as the Hawkins-era priory?

I've reworded in first instance and simply refer to it as Warwickshire priory in second instance to avoid repetition.

The sentence "The interior of the property is richly embellished with oak furnishings." requires an internal citation.

Can't locate where that is, but doesn't the well sourced info about all of the oak pieces confirm that anyway?

The sentence "On April 14, 1936, an adjacent 7.77-acre (31,400 m2) lot was purchased to accommodate an expansive landscape plan." requires an internal citation.

Gardens

The information at the end of the Gardens section dates from 1990--this should be indicated in the text unless more recent information is available from another source.

Thanks for the review! Will address shortly.♦ Dr. Blofeld 13:59, 6 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

@Caponer: I believe I've addressed virtually all points.♦ Dr. Blofeld 14:12, 6 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

@Dr. Blofeld:, thank you for addressing all my above comments and suggestions. Again, the article beautifully illustrates the history and architecture of this historic Richmond gem. I didn't have an opportunity to visit Virginia House while in Richmond this weekend, but I hope to tour it on my next trip down there. Congratulations on another Good Article job well done! I hereby pass this article to Good Article status. -- Caponer (talk) 00:26, 7 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]