Benjamin Deyerle (1806-1883), was a noted architect, artist and brickmaker in Roanoke County, Virginia. Many of the historic homes, churches and public buildings in Roanoke were designed and built under his and his family's direction. He is credited with building 23 of them, and perhaps more. Some of these homes and buildings are currently listed on both the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register
Benjamin Deyerle was born on September 7, 1806, to Peter and --Leffler Deyerle. Peter Deyerle was a German immigrant and indentured servant when he first came to America in 1748, and became a wealthy landowner in Montgomery County, Virginia. Benjamin had a half-brother, Joseph, and a nephew, James C. Deyerle (1825-1897). His brother, David (1813-1898) is credited with the brick work of the Peters Creek Church of the Brethren, the 1861 Main Building at Hollins University, and the 1861 brick addition to his own home. Most of the buildings constructed by the Deyerle family were Greek Revival in style. James C. Deyerle is also credited with the construction of the Spring Dale (Dublin, Virginia).[1]
Benjamin married Julia Ann Shaver Deyerle (1816 - 1895), and their children were: Susan Catherine Deyerle Chapman (1835 - 1884), George W Deyerle (1840 - 1862); Mary Jane Deyerle McCluer (1845 - 1870); Henry Shaver Deyerle (1847 - 1923) and Bessie Deyerle Wooding (1855 - 1937).
Benjamin Deyerle, the grandson of German immigrant Peter Deyerle, was a large-scale farmer with tracts of land in Roanoke County (specifically the Greater Deyerle neighborhood) and Franklin County, Virginia where he raised wheat, corn, tobacco, and cattle. He also operated a prosperous mill, a general store, and a large whiskey distillery.[2]
Benjamin Deyerle purchased one slave, Charles Lewis, to help with the brick making and construction. Charles Lewis had learned brick making in eastern Virginia, and was purchased in Richmond, Virginia, about 1849. By 1850 Benjamin had 13 slaves. including 7 males ranging in age from 16 to 52. By 1860 he owned 34 slaves, of whom 23 were male. At Lone Oaks he had 3 slave cabins. His brother, David, owned 7 male slaves ranging in age from 8 to 28, and his nephew had 5 males ranging in age from 16 to 35 years old. Joseph had 25 slaves and built 5 slave houses at Pleasant Grove (Salem, Virginia) in 1860.[3] In 1934, Peyton M. Lewis, a former slave who had belonged to Benjamin Deyerle, engaged in a series of correspondence with some Deyerle descendants in Roanoke. He wrote that his father. Charles Lewis, was a "great brick molder and layer, and a great distiller of whiskey." He also stated that Charles Lewis and his brother, Peyton Lewis (Peyton M. Lewis's uncle and namesake), were bought off the auction block in Richmond by Joseph and Benjamin Deyerle. Benjamin retained Charles, and Joseph retained Peyton. This would have occurred sometime between 1834 and 1849; therefore, it is likely that Peyton Lewis was one of the slaves who helped build Roanoke College, Pleasant Grove (Salem, Virginia), and possibly other structures.[4] [5]
Benjamin Deyerle also worked closely with Gustave A. Sedon, a German carpenter and cabinet maker.
Although the Christiansburg Presbyterian Church was built by James E. Crush and the brothers Samuel M. Hickok and James W. Hickok from Fincastle, Virginia and was completed in 1853, a number of the Greek Revival churches had much the same architecture. As the Deyerle family cooperated and assisted each other in building construction, they also obviously worked with other builders at the time. They thus learned and copied from each other, as they learned and copied from the architecture handbooks of the time. "The Christiansburg Presbyterian Church belongs to an architecturally distinctive group of antebellum churches located in communities in and around the Roanoke Valley. The churches were erected in the 1840s and '50s and are in a simplified Greek Revival style with many of their details adapted from the architectural handbooks of Asher Benjamin.[6] The buildings are temple form, usually with a portico in antis, and all are distinguished by a square belfry with s deep cornice and rectangular louvred openings framed by pairs of pilaster strips. Projecting from the belfries are steeples of varying types. Included in the group are the Methodist, Episcopal and Presbyterian churches of Fincastle (the Presbyterian Church is a remodeling of an older structure); the Salem Presbyterian Church; the Floyd Presbyterian Church; and the Bedford Presbyterian Church and former Methodist Church of Bedford. The churches were not erected by a single builder; rather various builders seen to have been involved. A relationship between these builders has not yet been determined."[7]
He probably built the Salem Presbyterian Church (Salem, Virginia). "The master builder has not been determined but it seems likely that it was Benjamin Deyerle who built many of the finer Greek Revival plantation houses in the area. The church's woodwork is attributed to Gustavia D. Sedon (Actually, Gustave A. Sedon), a well-known Roanoke County carpenter. Most of the architectural details are based on plates in ante-bellum builders' handbooks such as those of Asher Benjamin and Owen Biddle, Jr.."[8]
Belle Aire was constructed by Benjamin Deyerle and his carpenter Gustave A. Sedon (also known as Gustavus Sedon) for the Pitzer family in 1849.[9] Its Greek Revival embellishments were influenced by the New England architect Asher Benjamin's publication The Practical House Carpenter of 1830.[9] The L-shaped home is of brick construction with stuccoed Doric pilasters at the corners. Its most recognizable feature is its 2-story pedimented portico four fluted Doric columns at each level.[9] A kitchen addition replaced the original outbuilding and the side portico has been enclosed. Otherwise, Belle Aire remains much as it was in 1850. Today the home remains as a private residence.[10] It became a Virginia Historic Landmark in 1966 and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
Benjamin Deyerle also built Evergreen (Rocky Mount, Virginia). In this house the Italianate style was added to the Greek Revival. The house, also known as the "Callaway-Deyerle House", was originally completed in 1861.
Jamnes Persinger (1808-1884) lived in a log house in the rear of the Persinger house, until about 1854 when he commissioned Benjamin Deyerle, "the most popular builder in the county", to erect the brick dwelling, originally called "Hunter's Rest, now known as "White's Corners", at 1606 Persinger Road in Roanoke.[11]
Benjamin Deyerle also built Lone Oaks.
Walnut Grove was the home of Christian Nininger, a Brethren preacher and merchant, and was built around 1866. "We are told that Christian Nininger's house was of solid brick construction and is thought that the famed Benjamin Deyerle was the builder. Unlike other houses of the period it is noted that there is no central entrance hall dividing the lower floor. Upstairs, however, there is a wide hall running from front to back. Downstairs the hall stopped at the depth of the front rooms and a door led to a large back room with two small rooms on either side. Because of the unique arrangement, the fireplace was built across the corner in the large room with the flue joining the flue of the front room. Of course, there was a fireplace in each of the eight rooms of the house... Mr. and Mrs. William P. Vinyard purchased Walnut Grove in 1959 and moved into it in 1960. They changed the name to "Meadowbrook"."[12]
Benjamin Deyerle died on May 5, 1883, and is buried in the Shaver-Deyerle Cemetery in Cave Spring, Virginia.[13]