Marguerita Ville

“Businesswoman of unprecedented proportions. Operated her illicit but well-respected brothel for nearly 27 years before the raid of 1949 caused her to restrict her transactions.

“’Down across the railroad tracks was Marguiretta’s brothel,’ says Cliva Harris, now in his 70s. As a young man, Harris delivered furniture to Marguiretta for M.C. Thomas, and vividly remembers the opulence of the Fifth Street residence.

“Marguiretta was extremely well schooled. Rich and diverse education: music, languages, etiquette and generosity.

“Most exclusive of clientele: the wealthy, a former state governor, judges and, of course, students. One person says that so many students were known to frequent the place that it became known as ‘University Union.’

“Marguiretta died at the University of Virginia Hospital barely a year after the raid, on January 7, 1951. She left her estate—estimated value $200,000—to Clarence Andrews. He put the house (8-room with porches and balcony) on the market for $40,000 and eventually sold it for $11,000.

“Marguiretta’s exquisite furnishings [fell] to the auctioneer’s gavel, bringing a mere $6,000, a fraction of their appraised value of more than $100,000. And most of these pieces stayed right here in the community, furnishing some of the most elite homes in the area.

“It wasn’t until the wrecker’s ball hit the red-brick Jeffersonian structure in 1972 that Marguiretta’s substantial stash of money was found buried in the walls.

“Harris and his wife carted away 1,900 bricks and built a fireplace in their Rio Road home, capturing a small part of history.”

—Excerpts from “Marguiretta’s: Charlottesville’s Legendary House of Ill Repute.” Kathleen Phalen. Albemarle Archives: Famous, Infamous and Unforgettable People and Events that Shaped Central Virginia. Carden Jennings Publishing, 1997.

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