This house is Tiverton, a 19,000 square foot neoclassical mansion sitting on 460 acres in the hamlet of Greenwood, about 15 miles west of Charlottesville, Virginia. The property that would become Tiverton was purchased by Marie Ortman Boeing Owsley in 1900. Marie was originally from Austria and lived at Tiverton with her second husband, Dr. Frederic Dillard Owsley, a Chicago physician. The house was built by Frederic and completed in 1912. The identity of the architect is unknown. For some reason(s), between 1903 and 1919, Tiverton was sold, willed or transferred between members of the family multiple times. During this time period it was twice owned by Marie’s son from an earlier marriage, William Boeing, who would later go on to start Boeing Aircraft in Seattle.

Marie died in 1910 and in 1919 the estate was bought outright by Frederic who by this time had also established a dairy operation at Tiverton. When it came to women, Frederic definitely had a type and that type was Austrian. In 1913, Frederic married another Austrian, Mariska Golgotzen, the Baroness Eltz from Vienna, Austria. The Eltz noble family originated in Germany in the 12th century and still has their seat at Burg Eltz, a castle on the Moselle River in Germany. In 1932, Tiverton was destroyed by fire leaving just the shell of the building. Frederic passed away the following year leaving the estate and burned out hulk to Mariska. The Baroness rebuilt Tiverton house to a similar design in 1935 using architect Carl Linder of Richmond. The formal gardens were redesigned by Virginia landscape architect Charles Gillette, who is renown for several gardens in the Old Dominion including a couple of country houses covered in this blog, Lochiel (click here) and Verulam (click here). One design element that the Baroness insisted on was a party room in the house complete with bar, dance floor and slot machines. The Baroness sold Tiverton in 1960 to Mike Hughey, a Florida businessman who owned gas stations. Mr. Hughey used it sparingly for the next 48 years and it slowly fell into disrepair, decay and weeds.

In 2008, Tiverton found a savior in Coran Capshaw. Mr. Capshaw had owned a bar in Charlottesville in the 1990s and signed up an unknown, local jam band to play in the pub. These unknown musicians called themselves the “Dave Matthews Band” and Mr. Capshaw has been managing them to worldwide fame ever since. He also owns a company that manages the careers and work of other musicians and artists such as Tim McGraw and Phish. He has also been involved in several property developments and renovations and owns several restaurants in Charlottesville. By the time he bought Tiverton, the house and grounds were in very poor condition but Mr. Capshaw embarked on extensive renovations (the second time for the house) and has brought the property back to life. The estate next door, Rose Hill, is also a looker and is covered in this blog (click here for more). Tiverton is a private home and is not open to the public.