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Huntland sells for $7.3 million
Huntland, a property in Middleburg that boasts beautiful structures and historical relevance, was sold May 8 by Roy and Lila Ash to Aix-la-Chapelle Limited Partnership.According to Anita Sisney, the listing agent with Armfield, Miller and Ripley Fine Properties, the property, which included all structures, sold for $7.3 million.
“As far as I know the buyers are just going to use [Huntland] as a home,” said the buyer's agent, Helen MacMahon with Sheridan-MacMahon LTD. “They just want their privacy.”
Trustee of Aix-la-Chapelle Limited Partnership Hallie Bastain had no comment on the transaction.
The 129-acre property at the intersection of Foxcroft and Pot House roads, is “not under conservation easement regarding the Board of Supervisors,” said senior planner Brian Potts.
The property is zoned AR-2 (Agricultural Rural), which allows for one lot per 40 acres. With the adopted changes that became effective December 2006, the property can also be developed as one lot per 20 acres under the principal subdivision option, or one lot per 15 acres under the cluster subdivision option. Both options require a minimum of 40 acres to subdivide and 70-percent open space.
A 284-acre parcel of land adjacent to Huntland, which is also owned by the Ash family, is not currently on the market. The Ash family was recently granted a boundary-line adjustment for the two properties, bringing the parcel that just sold from 78 to 129 acres, and leaving the remaining adjacent parcel with 284 acres, down from 335.
In January, the Ashes sold Llangollen for $22 million to the Brennan family. The Ashes own other properties in the area.
The history
Huntland has a distinguished past. The original brick home, called New Lisbon, was built in 1837 by William Benton, a brick mason and builder who helped build Oak Hill, President James Monroe's home. In the early 1900s, Joseph B. Thomas purchased the property and renamed it Huntland. The home was remodeled, and additions expanded it to the grand structure it is today.
In 1954, Texan George Brown purchased the property and entertained friends, including then-Majority Leader of the Senate Lyndon Johnson. Johnson suffered a heart attack at the residence one afternoon in July 1955.
When President Kennedy relaxed at Glen Ora on the weekends, he would stop by to visit with Vice President Johnson.
Former Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn also stayed at Huntland. The nearby lake is named after him for all the afternoons he fished for bass.
It is rumored that President Johnson held cabinet meetings at Huntland, and hosted secret talks between the Netherlands and Indonesia to determine the future of New Guinea.
It is also rumored that Huntland was part of the Underground Railroad.
The estate
The property, which Country Life magazine once named one of seven outstanding country homes in America, is made up of a federal-style manor house, six tenant dwellings, stables, a separate three-car garage, an in-ground pool, pool house, formal garden and pond.
The main house keeps with the traditions of its time. It consists of the original two-story, brick structure with balustraded deck on a gable roof with paired interior end chimneys on each side, as stated on the Virginia Historic Landmark Commission survey form. The main house is flanked by single-story brick wings that were added in 1915.
The rolling hills of the property lend themselves nicely to the manicured lawns, English garden, natural bodies of water and brick walls.
Dispersed throughout the property are additional brick and stucco buildings that serve as tenant homes.
Contact the reporter at lwolstenholme@timespapers.com
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