Your walk down Duke of Gloucester Street brings you to the Ludwell–Paradise House, part of Colonial Williamsburg. This house was built in 1752–1753 for Philip Ludwell III; timbers in the surviving structure were dated as felled in 1752, and the brickwork shows the entire building was completed at once. The lot itself was purchased by Philip Ludwell II in September 1700, and there may have been an earlier house here between 1680 and 1690.
Over the years this building has worn many lives: rental property, a tavern that once hosted George Washington, and a home to The Virginia Gazette newspaper. Ownership later passed to William Lee. In December 1926 it became the first property John D. Rockefeller Jr. authorized W. A. R. Goodwin to purchase as part of the Colonial Williamsburg restoration campaign.
After restoration, the house held the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection from 1935 to 1956. Today the Ludwell–Paradise House serves as a rented private residence within the Williamsburg historic area. Notice the brickwork and timbers, then Duke of Gloucester Street stretching across the surrounding historic area.