Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 11, 1994 TAG: 9409130025
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KATHIE DICKENSON SPECIAL TO ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Long
"To me, it's just home," she said about "La Rivere," the place that her great-uncle William Ingles built in 1892. Despite the grandeur of the structure, with its medieval-looking tower outside and elegant curving staircase inside, it does feel like a home - perhaps because four generations of the same family have lived in it for more than 100 years. It is secluded and quiet, in spite of its proximity to an industrial section of Radford, and is situated on 13 acres along the New River.
Steele first moved to La Rivere when she was a year old; in 1950, her wedding was held in the front hall. She and her husband, Paul Steele, lived in a smaller house nearby until 1977, when they moved back into the homestead to care for Roberta's mother. When her mother died two years later, they stayed.
Earlier this year, the Queen Anne-style home was added to the Virginia Landmark Registry. Then in August, it was also placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Despite Roberta Steele's casual attitude toward that official status, she delights in the unusual details her great-uncle included in the house's design.
The window shutters, for example, slide down into the wall when not in use. A metal relief sculpture lines the fireplace in the front hall; of course, there is a fireplace in every room.
A small push-button bell is in the parlor for paging servants. A curved radiator fits perfectly into the curved wall of the staircase landing. The massive wooden doors to the parlor, dining room and library slide into the walls when opened, and a huge Dutch door leads out to the wrap-around porch.
The porch itself is a favorite spot for both Roberta and Paul Steele as they can sit and look out on the river. During the winter, their view of the river is unobstructed. During the summer, Paul Steele must keep an area cleared of limbs and underbrush. It isn't easy, he said, but ''I have to see the river,'' she added.
Just as she enjoys pointing out details of the house, Roberta Steele also talks about its previous residents with pleasure and affection.
William "Captain Billy" Ingles was the great-grandson of William and Mary Draper Ingles. There is no explanation for his nickname, as he never was a captain of any kind, although he and his twin brother, Andrew, ran away from Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) when they were 17 and joined the Confederate Army. William served in Washington County guarding the salt works and later was taken prisoner by the Union army.
After the war, William returned to Washington and Lee; later, he married Minnie Snow, whose ancestors had arrived on the Mayflower, and became a civil engineer. While working for the railroad, he supervised construction of an unusual, curved railroad bridge across the New River near his home; the piers are still visible from Hazel Hollow Road and the Memorial Bridge in Radford.
William also had a knack for architecture. Around 1890, he built a unique and gracious home on his property along the New River. It had a tower and a beautifully curving staircase; the woodwork throughout was made of cherry cut on the property.
Just before William and his wife moved in, the house burned to the ground. Distraught, William took his original plans to a builder and asked him to rebuild the house. By 1892 - the date that still shows on the capstone of the home - La Rivere had been restored.
There had been only enough cherry left on the property to finish the dining room and parlor, and the new home had a concrete kitchen floor. Descendants speculate that the fire that destroyed the original house must have started in the kitchen.
Within months of moving in, lightning struck in the library, in which William's Aunt Nannie Bass was sitting. Some time later, family members noticed a blurred shape on the new mirror in that room and thought the mirror was flawed. Upon further examination, family legend recounts, the blur was found to be a silhouette of Aunt Nannie - a "lightning photograph." Although Aunt Nannie didn't like it, the image stayed and remains there today.
William and Minnie became part of Radford's social scene. "The house was built for entertaining," said Roberta. There are two entrances, so party guests can enter by one door and leave by another, and the front hall, parlor and dining room are situated so that air circulates easily from one to another. High ceilings and the open staircase add to the sense of spaciousness.
The steps where visitors were dropped off from carriages are still visible among boxwoods that are 100 years old. And although the long sidewalk that used to lead out to the street is no longer intact, the daffodils that Minnie Snow Ingles planted along its length still come up every spring.
Because William had no children of his own, he left La Rivere to his namesake, his nephew William, son of his twin brother, Andrew. This William, Roberta's father, moved into the home in 1920 to care for his Aunt Minnie and inherited the house upon her death. He had entered the banking business in 1900 and retired as president of Radford's First & Merchant's National Bank at the age of 83, after 50 years in Radford banking. He died in 1966.
Since "Captain Billy" built his home in 1892, few changes have been made. Electric lights replaced gas lights when electricity came to Radford. Modern plumbing has replaced the original system, which consisted of a cistern from which water was pumped to a tank in the attic and then flowed to the rest of the house by force of gravity. The high, open porches have been enclosed with glass, and a conservatory has been added.
Otherwise, the house is basically the same as when it was built, and the Steeles like it that way. Some people say to Roberta, "How can the two of you live in that big old house?"
That's simple. It's home. "They would have to drag me away," said Roberta.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***