Col. Richard P. Taylor House

The Col. Richard P. Taylor House is a historic plantation complex near Huntsboro in Granville County, North Carolina. The property is centered on a substantial two-story frame dwelling constructed around 1835. Its architecture reflects a transition between the Federal and Greek Revival styles, with a five-bay principal façade, exterior end chimneys, a full-height brick basement, and a one-story rear ell. The house is notable not only for its design but also for its relationship to the surrounding agricultural landscape and associated outbuildings. The main residence is reported to be nearly identical to the Archibald Taylor Plantation House, which was built by Richard Taylor's half-brother. This similarity places the property within a recognizable group of antebellum plantation-era residences in the region and illustrates the persistence of related architectural and family building traditions in nineteenth-century Granville County. The historic property includes several contributing agricultural and domestic structures. These include an early mortise-and-tenon smokehouse, a pigeon house or tobacco packhouse, an air-curing tobacco barn, a frame corn crib, and two log tobacco barns. Together, the buildings document the agricultural operations and tobacco-oriented economy associated with the property. The surviving collection is therefore significant as a complex rather than merely as an isolated residence. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. Its significance rests on the integrity of the main house, the survival of the associated outbuildings, and the way the ensemble preserves evidence of historic building practices and agricultural life in Granville County. It is a heritage site and historic landmark rather than a commercial consumer brand; information about current ownership, public access, preservation management, and ongoing use is not established in the supplied reference material.

The Col. Richard P. Taylor House was established as a plantation residence in the antebellum period of North Carolina. The principal house was built about 1835 as a tall, two-story, five-bay frame dwelling. Its form combines Federal and Greek Revival characteristics, reflecting a period when older Federal design conventions were being adapted to the increasingly popular Greek Revival vocabulary. Distinctive features include exterior end chimneys, a full-height brick basement, and a one-story rear ell. The property developed as a working agricultural complex rather than as a residence alone. Several surviving outbuildings supported household and farm activities, including an early mortise-and-tenon smokehouse, a pigeon house or tobacco packhouse, an air-cure tobacco barn, a frame corn crib, and two log tobacco barns. These structures provide evidence of food preservation, crop storage, tobacco processing or packing, and general agricultural production. Their survival contributes to the property's value as a coherent historic landscape. The house has a close architectural parallel in the Archibald Taylor Plantation House, associated with Richard Taylor's half-brother. The resemblance indicates a shared family or regional building tradition and helps situate the residence within the architectural history of Granville County. The combination of the principal dwelling and multiple agricultural structures preserves a broader picture of nineteenth-century plantation-era life than a standalone historic house would provide. In 1988, the Col. Richard P. Taylor House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The listing formally recognized the significance of the house and its contributing resources. The supplied material does not identify the property's current owner, operating organization, visitor program, restoration history, or present use, so those details remain unconfirmed.

• 1988

  National Register listing

  [1]Col. Richard P. Taylor Houseen.wikipedia.org

  The Col. Richard P. Taylor House property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

• 1835

  Construction of the principal house

  [1]Col. Richard P. Taylor Houseen.wikipedia.org

  The main two-story, five-bay frame residence was built around this time in a transitional Federal/Greek Revival style.

A preserved nineteenth-century North Carolina plantation complex valued for its Federal/Greek Revival architecture, historic agricultural outbuildings, and representation of Granville County's rural heritage.

1. 1Col. Richard P. Taylor Houseen.wikipedia.org