About

Dr. Christian Hockman's house, conspicuously located on U. S. Route 11, is a rare example of the Italian Villa style in the lower Shenandoah Valley. The square tower is the style's signature feature. The mass-manufactured exterior and interior woodwork are illustrative of an important change in the region's building tradition. Supplanting ornaments made by hand, the machine-made components were sold through illustrated catalogs in major towns and cities and were distributed through rural areas by the ever-widening railroad network. The Hockman House was built in 1868-70 just as rail service was opened from Baltimore to the nearby town of Edinburg in Shenandoah County. Dr. Hockman is listed in the 1885 atlas as a dentist living just north of Edinburg on the Valley Turnpike. The manor house stood unoccupied for several years but has since been restored and is now a bed and breakfast inn.