Orna Villa, Greek Revival mansion in Oxford, United States.
Orna Villa is a Greek Revival mansion in Oxford featuring white exterior walls, tall proportioned windows, and balanced wings on either side. The structure displays the careful classical details typical of this architectural style from the 1820s.
Orna Villa was built in 1825, making it the oldest house in Oxford, and is attributed to builder Richard K. Dearing. Alexander Means, a founder and president of Emory College, owned the home for a time. During the American Civil War the house was used as a hospital. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and is a contributing building in the NRHP-listed Oxford Historic District.
Alexander Means, a founder and president of Emory College, owned the house for a time. It has been featured in works on haunted houses because of an alleged association with the ghost of Tobe Means. The Vampire Diaries used Orna Villa as the setting of a college fraternity party.
Orna Villa stands on Emory Street in Oxford, Georgia, within the Oxford Historic District. The house is a private residence, so visitors see it from the street; the surrounding historic district can be explored on foot. The Alexander Means papers are held at Emory University's Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library.
The house appears in books about haunted places because of a reported ghost: Tobe Means, a figure linked to the Means family. It also appears on screen, standing in for a college fraternity party location in the television series The Vampire Diaries.
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