Altha Hall was originally built by a gentleman from Fairfax named Andrew Adgate Lipscomb II (born 1854), who later became Assistant District Attorney of the District of Columbia during President Grover Cleveland’s administration.
In 1886, not long after marrying his wife Lamar Rutherford, Lipscomb ordered construction in Arlington for a mansion to be modeled after one that had been long admired by his wife, a resident of Athens, Georgia. Actual Georgia pine was shipped by rail and used for the paneling and also for the forty-foot pillars, while hardware and fixtures from a castle in England were used on the front doors. Fine Italian marble was used to build the fireplaces and crystal chandeliers from Europe were also procured.
The Lipscombs moved into their mansion in 1889, having named it “Ruthcomb” as a composite of their names, Rutherford and Lipscomb.
After the death of Mr. Lipscomb, the property was sold in 1905 to Mr. and Mrs. Thaddeus Matthew Tyssowski of Washington. She was the former Alice Walton Green of Lewinsville, Virginia. Emulating the previous owners, the new occupants renamed the home “Altha Hall”, a combination of their names, Alice and Thaddeus. Mr. Tyssowski was a successful businessman and insurance company executive and his son, Colonel John Tyssowski, married Catherine Woodward. John later became Chairman of the Board of Directors of Woodward & Lothrop.
In 1921, the Tyssowski family sold Altha Hall to Dr. W.S. Benedict, who lived there for 14 years before moving to a country estate near Sterling, Virginia. The hall was then leased by Tyssowski to Miss Anna Payne, who held a nursery school and kindergarten there. The property was then sold in 1957 to a group of real estate investors who had the property rezoned from residential, in hopes of turning it into a potential apartment house site. During this time, the house was occupied by the Lentz family until its destruction in 1959.
Further information about Altha Hall can be found in the excellent book “Arlington Heritage: Vignettes of a Virginia County” by Eleanor Lee Templeman, which is available for checkout here at Central Library. The photograph above is from the booklet “A Brief History of Alexandria County, Virginia,” published under the auspices of the county Board of Supervisors, of which early area activist and official Crandall Mackey was a member.
What About You?
Do you remember Altha Hall? Did you ever visit the property? We want to hear from you!
What memories this picture brings back. I went to Altha Hall for nursery school in the 50s. I remember sitting on the porch and taking naps in a large room with a fireplace. I enjoyed your site so much. Thanks–
I believe my grandmother was born there. My great great grandparents were Alice (TT) and Thaddeuz anyway. Excellent to see history here!
In the past week I was writing a section of my memoirs that happened to be about my time at Altha Hall. I googled Altha Hall and found this wonderful discussion about that gorgeous building, Miss Anna Payne, etc. (Your piece helped me with some of my information). Since I was born in 1942 my experience there was in the mid-1940's. Here is what I wrote–>A positive highlight of living in Arlington during those early days of my life was attending Altha Hall School for preschool and/or kindergarten—I am not sure which. This school functioned out of a white mansion with huge pillars surrounding it and was run by a Miss Anna Payne. I remember making a scrapbook about Longfellow’s Hiawatha and memorizing some of his poem. There were dances around the Maypole and triplets June, Jane and Joan were among the dancers; they piqued my lifelong interest in children of multiple births. Somewhere along the line we got fun out of referring to the place as “Alco Hol”.My mother would tell of visits she made to Altha Hall during her lunch hour when she would most always be directed to the bathroom to find me happily washing my hands over and over with lots of soap. I have warm memories of trekking up to one of the higher floors in the mansion to visit Mother Payne–I think that's what we called her– who would sew on buttons for us or apply bandaids when needed. There was a wooded section of the property where we children chased one another up and down small hilly paths. When I revisited the site a number of years later I was shocked to see how small was the “forest” I had been enjoying in my memories.Karen Stevens Devassy, M.D.
I also attened summer camp back in 1949 to 1953. I remember when i was 10 i was able to help the teachers with the younger kids getting them down for their naps. We slept on cots and the younger kids went to sleep right away but the olders one had to stay on the cot even if they didnt sleep. They took us to swim over in Washington Dc about once every few weeks. We had pony rides too. I remember going through the woods to look for leaves to work with. They taught us to identify trees and leaves and to make things with them. Someone picked me up every day at home and drove me to the school in a woody. I was sorry that they tore it down.
Interestingly enough, I’m fact checking an article on a lady named Marguerite Virginia Gordon Brown, who apparently was the headmistress for about two years in the early 1950s. This was the only reference I could find for the school with a simple Google search.
Not that I didn’t trust her word, but she is 99 now…
Thanks for the memories! I was born in 1941 and went to kingergarden at Altha Hall.
Further search serfaced a picture of me crowning probably what was a May Day Queen or Princess.
Incredible what you can find on the internet!!
http://images.google.com/hosted/life/dd291a9143a360d7.html
I attended nursery school at Altha Hall in the early 1950’s, and have such fond memories of my time there. It came up in a conversation today with friends, and I told them that I would just have to “Google” it. What a wonderful building!
I was born in 1947 and attended Altha Hall from 1950 with my older brother Charles (Chuck) Klein (now Staples) until the school closed. My memory is the school closed because Miss Anna Payne could no longer afford to keep the school open.
I remember the May Day celebrations, the Easter egg hunts on the lower playground, crossing the drive to the upper playground where the hills and trails were. I remember finding a nest of bunny rabbits and bringing them back to the school. I remember the over-grown area where I would find turtles and praying mantis’s. And yes, I remember riding to and from school every day in the Ford Woody. One day the driver closed my finger in the window, which earned me special treats every day until my finger got better!
We took naps every day right after eating graham crackers with milk.
I also remember walking down the street, a short distance from the school before you would reach Lee Highway, with the entire class and our teacher. We would help gather eggs from my teacher’s chicken coop at her home and then return to school.
The school had several of the old fashoned snow sleds, the kind you cannot steer. We would sled on the small hill to the lower play ground.
I don’t believe we have any pictures of the school.
Great fun and good memories.
I grew up at 1930 N. Adams St. and spent quite a bit of time playing on the property with Jimmy Lance . In a previous comment , Stuart Klein referred to the hills and trails of the upper playground ,those hills were the remnants of the civil war breastworks . There was also a large stand of bamboo on the property that was fun to play in .
Jimmy had a pony , Midnight, whose stall was under the porch on the north side of the mansion . Every so often Midnight would get loose and take off down N.Adams to Lee Highway and then on over to Cleaveland St. .
I am the youngest “founding member” of the Arlington Historical Society and therefor knew Eleanore Lee Templeman , senator Frank Ball ,Cornelia Bambi Rose jar. and her husband Lazlo Ekeratz . Many good memories for me .
Enjoyed knowing the history of this place. My brother attended Altha Hall in about 1946-47. I have 2 photos taken during that time of the school children I would like to send if I can find out how!
The Center of Local History would love to have your donation of photos from Altha Hall. We will contact you privately to work out the details. Thanks!
I tore out some cabinets in Fairfax. I found a lunch menu from July 15 1943 vol.3 no 2.I have it in a picture frame