Richmond · Franklin Street
Linden Row Inn
Seventy rooms in Franklin Street's 1847–53 Greek Revival row houses, where Nancy Langhorne, later Lady Astor, went to school; an inn since 1988.
- Built
- 1847–53Eastern five houses built 1847 by Fleming James; the row was completed in 1853 by Samuel and Alexander Rutherfoord (DHR). Two easternmost houses were demolished in 1922. Restored as an inn in 1988.
- Style
- Greek Revival
- Architect
- Otis Manson
- Type
- Boutique hotel
- Rooms
- 70
- Area
- Franklin Street
- Credentials
- Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The story
Fleming James built five connected brick town houses in 1847 on the site of Charles Ellis’s linden-shaded garden, and the Rutherfoord brothers completed the row in 1853. From 1895 to 1906 Miss Virginia Randolph Ellett’s school occupied the row; pupils included Irene Langhorne (the ‘Gibson Girl’) and Nancy Langhorne, later Lady Astor. Preservationist Mary Wingfield Scott bought the surviving houses between 1950 and 1957 and gave them to the Historic Richmond Foundation in 1980. The row was restored as an inn in 1988.
The ghost story
Haunts of Richmond, a local ghost-tour company, tells of people who claim to have seen the apparitions of a young Edgar Allan Poe and his childhood sweetheart Elmira Royster reading to one another in the inn's garden, the old linden grove where their friendship turned to romance.
Source: www.hauntsofrichmond.com
Good to know
- Address: 100 East Franklin Street, Richmond, VA 23219
Sources (2)
Last verified October 2026. Details change; confirm with the inn before you book.