Wynne Home Architectural History

The property that the Wynne Home sits on originally belonged to Sanford and Sallie Gibbs. They gifted their niece, Samuella Gibbs, and her husband, Gustavus Adair Wynne, the deed to the property as a wedding gift in 1882. 

Gustavus built a honeymoon cottage for his new wife on the gifted land, and the couple moved into the home in 1883. 

As the Wynne Family grew, so did their house. Gustavus and Samuella began renovating their house as their family increased in size, taking it from the modest honeymoon cottage, to “Huntsville's most successful historically layered house”, as noted in 1917. 

The Wynne home (shown here in an 1899 photograph) was a stylish Queen Anne house. The home had a steeply pitched roof with irregularity in the roof-lines that is typically seen in most Queen Anne houses. 

The second story porch, the ground floor wrap-around veranda, the spindle work decoration on the porches, and the decorative wrought-iron work on the roof also display typical Queen Anne features.

In 1899, The Wynne Home was already considered one of the architectural landmarks in the town.

By 1916-1917, several developments indicate that Gustavus Adair Wynne undertook a major renovation that transformed the home into the Classical Revival style seen today.

By 1916, the Queen Anne style had largely fallen out of favor with American home owners. Using features that typified the Classical Revival style, Gustavus Wynne had a double-story classical portico built that increased the size of the home by as much as twenty-five percent.

Although the design of the Wynne Home changed over time, some remaining Victorian interior design features include the intricately carved balusters decorating the front stairwell, a crowned cove ceiling in the dining room, and an oblong stained-glass window seated above the room's west windows. 

Except for repairs and ongoing maintenance, the installation of indoor plumbing in 1926, and air conditioning in the 1970's, no major stylistic changes to the home have been made since.