217 North Pitt Street
Lana Skirboll and Leonard Taylor
“Where are we going to have movie night?” was the cry that almost prevented Lana Skirboll and Leonard Taylor from crossing this threshold, as their adult children and grandkids vetoed this house as too small and too crooked. The solution was to extend the building by about 12 feet into the garden on each of the three floors. Leonard, an architect who could make it happen, told Lana, “We can fix the problems. All it takes is money and time.”
This home, part of a row of four townhouses constructed in 1854 by William Gregory, features plain rectangular fanlights—influenced by the Greek Revival architectural movement—which stand out from the more widespread semicircular Federal-style door fanlights of Old Town. The door surround also reflects the embrace of Greek Revival’s straight lines.
Alexandria has more than a few alleys, but few passages were built expressly for horses. The “horse alley” on the left side of this townhouse enabled horses to enter the stable in the back.
Throughout this house are portraits of women that capture Lana’s interest: thought-provoking women from different time periods, in various poses, some with enigmatic expressions, and others lost in thought. Photography, sculpture and Swedish art glass also make an appearance. Not surprisingly, windows are not merely windows in this art lover’s home: three rear windows perfectly frame floral compositions of the seasonal blooms growing in the French-influenced garden in the back.