Parksley Land and Improvement Co.

Parksley, VA

1889-92 | Hotel | Not Built

“Minerva Parker, 14 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, has made preliminary sketches for an inn at Parkesley, Va., for the Parksley Land and Improvement Company. The inn will contain about fifty rooms. All of the three floors to be reached by an elevator. The entire house to be heated by steam and open fire places.” (August 21, 1889)

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Minerva’s mother Amanda was an early stakeholder in the Parksley Land and Improvement Company, which sought to develop Parksley, Virginia as a railroad town on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. It is unclear how Amanda learned of the company, but several of the lead investors had Philadelphia ties, which may explain the connection. In February 1885, she purchased 130 shares in the company.

A few years later, the company hired Minerva for several commissions, including this hotel project that she announced in August 1889. (Additional commissions included a residence for Henry Bennett and several speculative houses.)

However, research suggests that Minerva’s commissions in Parksley may not have been built: she did not mention these projects again, after their initial announcements, and there’s no evidence that she traveled to Virginia. (Typically, she advertised her projects at multiple points in the design/construction process.) This hotel was definitely not built.

— Research by Bill Whitaker