Ailes, William, House
a.k.a. Bellevue
657 S. Canal St., Natchez, MSThe William Ailes House, or Bellevue, is a Greek Revival dwelling typical of the type residence constructed by the working middle class of antebellum Natchez. Although altered by conversion to commercial use, the house is extremely important as the only building documented as having been built by Natchez master carpenter Thomas Bowen. Also unique for Natchez architecture are the dormers which feature lighted beveled corners.
In 1852, William Ailes purchsed an eleven-acre tract of land from the heirs of John Girault (Adams Co. Deed Book II:113). This tract was part of the larger Belle-Vue [sic] estate that was earlier surveyed into building lots by Levin Wailes (Deed Book BB:428) and advertised for sale in 1845 (Mississippi Free Trader and Natchez Gazette, Mar. 4, 1845, p. 1). John Girault's Bellevue mansion, depicted in the Wailes survey, no longer survives, and the house constructed for Ailes now bears the name of the Girault estate. William Ailes died intestate in 1856, not long after his residence was completed, and a thorough accounting of the construction of the house by Thomas Bowen was filed among Ailes's probate papers with a balance owing of $204.66. The first charges were entered in November 1853 for lumber, and the house was completed in the fall of 1854 (Probate Box 161): Thomas Bowen is listed in the 1860 Adams Co. population schedules as a master carpenter who was born in Maryland. The probate papers also contain the information that Ailes was a drayman whose business was located on Silver Street in Natchez Under-theHill.
Documenting Bowen as the builder of Bellevue has almost certainly identified him as the builder of an important Natchez residence known as Sunnyside, or the Guidici House.The masons who worked on the Ailes residence were Reynolds and Brown (Probate Box 161), who were the masons for Stanton Hall (Mississippi Free Trader, Apr. 5, 1858, p. 1) and Institute Hall (Minutes, Board of Selectmen, Natchez Mississippi, May 5, 1852).
The house was sold in 1859 (Deed Book MM:330) to Charles Boyle, a prominent levy contractor (Population Schedules, Adams Co., Miss., 1860), and, again in 1876 (Deed Book UU:793) to John Quegles, prominent merchant and son of the Spaniard Joseph Quegles, one of the early citizens of Natchez. In the 1960's the house was purchased from the Lum family for use as a gift shop operating under the firm name of Brown-Barnett. The Lum family had previously altered the rear of the house, and Brown Barnett made additional rear alterations for commercial purposes.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.