Number 327 Duke Street, in the West Freemason Street Area Historic District of Norfolk, is the Allmand–Archer House, the compact historic home you see here. Built about 1795, this two-story, three-bay brick townhouse measures approximately 30 feet square, its proportions giving it a quiet, deliberate presence on the street. The front facade is stuccoed and set off by stucco quoins, a restrained Classical Revival face that frames the house like a carved picture.
A recessed front entrance catches your eye: a pedimented entablature rests above the doorway, supported on fluted Roman Doric order columns and matching pilasters, a formal little porch that announces the building’s architectural intent. Pause and imagine the house in another moment in history — during the War of 1812, it sheltered American officers stationed in Norfolk. The house’s historical significance was later recognized when it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 22, 1971.
Let the scale of this 1795 townhouse, its stuccoed face and Roman Doric detailing, orient you to the streetscape here.