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Paxton Manor opens doors, asks for donations
For three years, Paxton Manor's doors have been closed to the public.
Even now, the windows of the 19th-century mansion are boarded up with plywood, the paint on the rotting columns that support the front porch is peeling and some tiles are missing from the roof.
The doors closed when Paxton trustees said they could no longer afford the upkeep of the property.
But on Aug. 11 and 12, the 32-room Leesburg mansion, built in 1872, held an open house, allowing the public to glimpse inside the former home of Charles Paxton, a wealthy railroad man, and his wife, Rachel.
"We had a nice steady flow of people both Saturday and Sunday," said Vernon Davis of the Loudoun Restoration and Preservation Society.
Paxton Manor hosted the open houses to raise money to conduct a formal study to show what is needed to renovate the mansion.
The event attracted some 240 people and raised about $1,600.
Major renovations include new heating, plumbing, wiring and possibly adding an elevator. An early cost estimate of the renovations amounts to $9 million, said Davis.
"That's an initial study done by Tidewater Preservation," he said.
To complete the study, the LRPS needs to raise $19,500. So far, nearly $18,000 has been raised.
When Rachel Paxton died in 1921, her will stipulated that the property should always be used to benefit children – in memory of her only child, Margaret, who had died as a young woman.
Until about 1950, Paxton Manor was used as a convalescent home for children. For the next 20 years, the mansion was an orphanage. From the early 1970s until 2004, the house and its grounds were used as a day-care center and preschool.
Many who visited Saturday and Sunday were former students of the preschool and their families, Davis said.
Currently, no timeline exists for the project's completion, he said. But the trustees of the Paxton estate are in negotiations to lease the property to the Aurora School for Children with Autism.
Contact the reporter at hhobbs@timespapers.com
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