White House of the Confederacy

When you see a location or organization with a VisitAble Advocate Certification, you can be assured that the location or organization has been trained to serve its visitors with disabilities best.

Completed in 1818, the house at the corner of 12^th and Clay Streets was built for Dr. John Brokenbrough. The architectural style, as well as supporting evidence, points to Robert Mills as its designer. The home passed through two other owners before Lewis D. Crenshaw, a wealthy Richmond flour merchant, purchased it in 1857. Crenshaw made major changes to the house, adding the third story, gas lighting, and a bathroom, and completely redecorating the interior. 

When Richmond became the Confederate capital in May 1861, the City Council began a search for a home for Jefferson Davis, the Confederate President. Mr. Crenshaw offered his house, complete with all its furnishings, to the city for just under $43,000. The city, then, rented the house to the Confederate government. In August 1861, Jefferson Davis, his wife Varina, and their three young children moved in.

During the war, the house functioned as both an official residence and a family home. The Davises, however, were not the only occupants. There was a staff of twelve to fifteen enslaved and free servants, some of whom lived on the property. At least three of the enslaved individuals—James Pemberton, Betsey, and Robert Brown—were brought to the house by the Davises. Other enslaved workers were hired out, or leased, from people in the area. 

Just prior to Richmond’s fall to U.S. forces, the Davises left the house and fled south. After the Union army marched into Richmond, Major General Godfrey Weitzel set up his headquarters in the home on April 3, 1865. The next day, President Abraham Lincoln spent about two hours in the house, meeting with Weitzel and others. Lincoln’s visit occurred just five days before Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses Grant and just ten days before his assassination.

For the next five years, the house served as a residence for U.S Army officers as they administered Reconstruction. After Virginia was readmitted to the Union in 1870, the army returned the house to the city. The city used the house as a public school—Central School— for the next 20 years.

In 1890, Richmond leaders decided to demolish the house in order to build a new school. However, a group of women organized as the Confederate Memorial Literary Society and intervened. They acquired the house and began collecting items associated with the Confederacy, opening the Confederate Museum in 1896. 

The house served as the museum until 1976. It then underwent an extensive 12-year restoration project, and, in 1988, the house opened to the public as The White House of the Confederacy, a name seldom used during the war but chosen to help identify the role the house played. 

Today, visitors are treated to an immersive experience as interpretive staff lead them through two floors, fully furnished with period items, many of which were in the home during the war. Visitors learn about the impact of the war on the individuals—black and white, enslaved and free—who lived and worked in the home and about Abraham Lincoln’s visit. Information on the servant staff can be found on our online exhibit, “In Service and Servitude.”