About

The most elaborate example of the Queen Anne architectural style in the South Boston Historic District, and probably all of Halifax County, the 1892 E. L. Evans House was both the grand personal residence of and, effectively, a professional advertisement for businessman Edward Livingston Evans. The variety of the house's architectural embellishment is striking both inside and out, with its irregular roofline, decorative chimneys, three-story tower, elaborate mantels, intricate wood carving, and geometrically patterned wainscoting. Thus, while Evans and his family lived in the house, by its nature it inevitably served as a showcase of the techniques and materials Evans could offer through his lumber, building material, and decorative architectural elements business. The E. L. Evans House, which caused a sensation locally when it was built, was also the first in the town of South Boston to have central heating. Adopted into the prominent Philadelphia Evans family from an orphanage, E.L. Evans also served as the town's mayor for two terms.