At 420 West Bute Street in Norfolk's West Freemason District, you have arrived at Kenmure, also known as the William Lamb House, an urban antebellum home. Its name comes from a Scottish family estate, and the house still speaks of the ambitions of its builders. Originally constructed in 1845 as a three-bay Greek Revival brick town house, it began as two floors measuring 40' by 40' above an English basement, with brick and wood walls and no fewer than 15 fireplaces.
Inside were two front parlors, a living room, and a separate kitchen outbuilding. In 1855 Kenmure was enlarged to three stories, adding a central one-bay dwarf portico, a rear addition, and a low hipped roof topped by a three-bay cupola. The house occupied a half-block site next to the Elizabeth River, between Bute and Botetourt Streets.
Kenmure was built for Margaret Kerr Lamb and William Wilson Lamb, a banker, shipper, cotton and rail merchant; their children included William Wilson Lamb and Mary Content Lamb Donnell. William Wilson Lamb served as mayor of Norfolk from 1858 to 1862 during the Civil War, a period when Norfolk surrendered the city to Union soldiers. Your view now spans Bute and Botetourt Streets and out toward the Elizabeth River.