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Virginia: Tidewater and Piedmont » Hampton Roads » Williamsburg » Colonial Williamsburg Historic Area » Prentis Store

Prentis Store

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1740. 1928–1931 and 1972, restoration. Duke of Gloucester and Colonial sts.
  • (Photograph by Mark Mones)
  • (Photograph by Mark Mones)
  • (Photograph by Mark Mones)
  • (HABS)

Despite changes over the years and an unsympathetic commercial interior, Prentis Store is one of the best surviving pre-Revolutionary stores in the Chesapeake. Its exterior is unusually costly for a commercial building of its time, built of brick and finished with a modillion cornice and a pediment turned toward Duke of Gloucester Street. The original plan is perceptible in the fenestration. The front door gave public access to a sizable salesroom with shelves running the length of the side walls. A rear door led to stairs and a small office lighted with side windows and heated with a small fireplace. Storage and perhaps workers' sleeping space in the attic was lighted by narrow dormers.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Richard Guy Wilson et al.
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Data

What's Nearby

James Anderson House and Blacksmith Shop
The Quarter
Wetherburn's Tavern
Peyton Randolph House
Courthouse

Citation

Richard Guy Wilson et al., "Prentis Store", [Williamsburg, Virginia], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/VA-01-HR7.

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