The Kellogg House at 644 Monroe Ave., Cape Charles, VA
Arguably the finest house in the historic Chesapeake Bayfront town of Cape Charles, Virginia , the Kellogg House at 644 Monroe Avenue, remains for my children their cherished residence, full of childhood memories. From elementary school-aged children to high schoolers, this house was the center of their universe for eleven years. Having spent over 4,000 nights there, I have a unique appreciation for its particular special history, qualities and features completely aside from the special amenities in Cape Charles such as the great town beach, Palmer and Nicklaus world class golf courses and a new state-of-the-art marina. And believe me, there hardly was a morning that I did not awaken with the feeling of how privileged I was to live in such a fine old home!
She never fails to impress a new visitor that crosses her threshold. From the moment one stands
Grand Entrance Portico at the Kellogg House
on the sidewalk out front gazing up at her parapets, this grand lady calls, welcoming one to climb the granite steps to the front portico supported by pairs of twin Doric columns. A great big door with lionshead knocker guards the entrance that is lined with leaded glass-paned sidelights and fan light above. Dropping the bar on the knocker sends a resounding clap echoing down the entrance hall and up the grand staircase. My memory recalls the kids bounding down the stairs to answer the door, ready for friends and play.
Mr. Eucebius Milton Kellogg completed the construction of this magnificent house in 1928, two years after sinking the massive foundation that supports the impressive brick and steel structure of the home. I understand that 6 months was spent on this foundation, driving contiguous pilings deep into the footprint upon which the concrete footers were poured. As the basement is at ground level, mounds of earth were piled high up against the front walls, giving the impression from the street the home is built on a hill. Mr. Kellogg was a railroad tycoon and wanted his final home to last for centuries! Walls three and four bricks thick stand upon the poured footers and threaded throughout each of the three floors of the home are 12″ steel I-beams. No big, bad wolf is going to blow this house away!
Massive masonry fireplace and French doors in living room
Great, big, formal spaces lend an air of elegance and are finished with architectural moldings, up to five pieces hand-fitted together.
In the center of the outer wall of the living room is a grand masonry fireplace with stone mantel and carved insert in French script. On either side of the massive fireplace, a fireplace that warmed my cold feet on many winter nights, are big French doors offering easy access to the Spanish tiled Florida room.
This sun porch has these incredible horizontal stacking windows that open up great expanses of screened airflow. And on the other side of the great center hall is a wonderful dining room with a centerpiece
Dining room with mahogany china cupboard
that is a beautiful, handcarved, solid mahogany china cupboard. For excellent service, right behind the dining room is the best butler pantry I have ever seen, with floor to ceiling wooden and glass cupboards and an original, five foot long porcelain sink. The back hall has another fantastic gem that never fails to amaze, a floor to ceiling Frigidaire ice cream cupboard,
Floor to ceiling ice cream cupboard in back hall
magnificently refinished to attract the attention it deserves. Two sets of back stairs lead down to the basement and out into the back yard. The great kitchen also has the same type of stacking windows as the Florida room and allows for wonderful ventilation while preparing and cooking food. Between the kitchen and the dining room and just off the butler pantry is another little surprise, a charming, tiled breakfast room surrounded by six paned, double hung windows that bring the soft morning light and outdoors inside. And off the dining room is a cute, little tiled screened porch, one where I often slept on an army cot during hot summer nights.
Yes, the kids sounded like herds of elephants trampling up and down the grand, cantilevered staircase, a sound that took me years to get used to, but that I miss so much now that they are grown up and on their own. These wonderful stairs always amazed me by their seemingly weightless suspension, but how graceful they
Wonderfully engineered cantilevered grand staircase
are, appointed with a beautiful mahogany bannister with curled end at the bottom. At each of the three floors is an access door that opens to the laundry chute for conveniently making soiled, and in the case of lazy children, not so soiled clothes disappear down to the laundry room in the basement.
The suite of rooms on the second floor tell an interesting story about an elderly couple whose children had all left home before they designed and built this house. Mr. and Mrs. Kellogg had two daughters that they raised in the home at 653 Tazewell, just a hop, skip and a jump from the location of this, their new Monroe Avenue mansion. There they lived for thirty-five years before moving into this home, their final place of residence. Settled into their dream home in 1928, Mr. Kellogg occupied one half of the second floor in a large bedroom served by a built-in wardrobe with glass paned doors and a bathroom with shower finished with subway tile. This was heated by a radiator hidden behind a massive iron screen ornamented with two
Master bedroom with built-in wardrobe
hundred flur-de-lis. The other half of this floor was occupied by Mrs. Kellogg, a suite of three rooms – one a corner bedroom with attached tiled bathroom with full sized tub and pedestal sink and same flur-de-lis radiator screen. The middle room was clearly her full sized dressing and sitting room and passing though that past a huge cedar closet is the sleeping porch for those hot summer nights before the age of air conditioning. And outside that is an outdoor patio as high
Sleeping porch at the Kellogg House
as the tops of the huge crepe myrtles in the back yard – a perfect place for sunbathing!
The third floor was clearly designated for two servants to live in, with two identical bedrooms and a full bath with huge tub between the two. All three of these rooms are served with identical dormers with curved-topped French windows that peak out over the street scene far below. The curved plaster-on-lathe ceilings are so gracefully formed, yet the floors here are only common heart-pine while the two more formal floors below have beautiful oak hardwood. I could continue on and on with more details about this unique and beautiful home but I shall save the rest for a future post. However, should you be interested in making an appointment to see this splendid and lovingly constructed historic Cape Charles home, please give Blue Heron a call at 757-331-4885 or email me at davidk@esva.net.
