| A large, rambling, asymmetrical 2½-story house with stuccoed walls and a tile roof, The Hollyknowe Plantation house is significant locally for its distinctive architectural character. Built about 1922, it is a rare instance for its time of the use of the "modern" stylistic traits of the 1920s for a plantation resident in the architecturally conservative rural areas of the Mississippi Delta. Although houses displaying similar architectural character were not uncommon in urban areas of the Deep South at that time, Hollyknowe was unique in rural Washington County, where its contemporaries were either substantially less elaborate or were built in much more conservative styles. Elements derived from the Prairie style, the Italian Renaissance Revival, and perhaps other sources were combined with a loosely interpreted free classicism in this very eclectic design by Memphis architect Raymond B. Spencer. It was listed on the National Register on 10 October 1985. |