Bannister Hall and Baynard House
a.k.a. Fox Hall
S of Smyrna off DE 300, Smyrna, DEBannister Hall, with its square lines and cupola, is typical of Delaware country mansions of the Victorian period. However, as far as can be determined, it may have been the first pre-fabricated house erected in Delaware.
In 1865 John Anthony of Troy, New York declined an offer to stand as a gubernatorial candidate, and moved to Delaware to grow peaches. Since John Anthony was a building contractor, all the materials including the weatherboards, balusters, woodwork, and plumbing, were cut and fully prepared in Troy. After their arrival by freight cars the members were erected on waiting foundations outside of Smyrna in 1866. The house and lands have been inherited, in turn, by James Anthony and William Anthony, the present occupant and owner.
To the rear of Bannister Hall stands a modified Resurrection Manor style house with a corbelled brick cornice. This brick house is dated about 1750 and is believed to have been called Baynard House or Fox Hall. According to family legend the Fox Hall estate became Bannister Hall in 1886, when family illness required the placement of two railings on the stairs in the main house.
Bannister Hall is locally famous for a large grove of trees surrounding the house. John Anthony began the arboretum by planting an avenue leading to Bannister Hall. Since then, both James and William Anthony have added to the collection. The park now contains over one hundred species, of both foreign and local origin, at
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
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.