The Cavalier daily :: Friday, December 15, 1972 :: University of Virginia Library

Plush Oriental carpeting
sank beneath my feet, and my
gaze was immediately drawn to
the end of the hall, where my
reflection was framed in a
floor-length gold leaf mirror.

My eyes roved, drinking in
the lavishness of the house's
interior. On the right an
ornate, hand-carved teakwood
table displayed a bust of a
chaste-looking Victorian lady;
inscribed on its base was the
motto, "Time is money."

Not one, but two
bannistered staircases ascended
from the near and far ends of
the hall, coming together
upstairs. And from the
hallway's rather high ceiling
was suspended a red-light
chandelier, which radiated its
invitation through the door to
the street below.

Muted voices and soft piano
music reached my ears,
apparently from a parlor to the
left.

My attention returned to
the short, heavy-set
middle-aged woman who had
met me at the door. Her high
cheekbones, tawny
complexion, and long black
tresses suggested an Indian
heritage. A striking woman, she
wore a fashionable blue silk
dress and a small bonnet.

For a moment, she eyed me
warily. Then, with the faintest
trace of a smile, she welcomed
me into her house.

It was a brisk December
evening in the year, shall we
say, 1939, and the woman was
Marguiretta–madame of
Charlottesville's legendary
pleasure palace.

Her brothel has long since
been closed, and Marguiretta
hasn't turned a trick in more
than 20 years. Even the stately
Fifth Street mansion, through
whose doors reportedly passed
some of the most distinguished
men in the community,
succumbed, three weeks ago to
the wrecker's ball.

Yet through the
recollections of
Charlottesville's old-timers–
former patrons of the
establishment, acquaintances
and others who remember its
madam, Marguiretta's lives on.

So vivid were their impressions
that Marguiretta came to life in
their anecdotes. It seemed as if
I, too, had been there. After
listening to a number of such
stories, I was left wondering,
"What was the real story of
this establishment and its
owner?"

Sporting House

Unfortunately,
recollections, anecdotes, and
traditions remain the major
source of information about
Marguiretta and her
establishment. The nature of
her profession made written
records indiscreet, and fire,
flood and time have combined
to deplete the already small
stock of documented
information.

Something is known,
however, of the history of the
house itself. The title to the
property has been traced back
as far as 1861, and in the
century since then, ownership
has changed hands at least
fifteen times. From 1922 to
1951 the property belonged to
Marguiretta, during which she
ran "an elegant and high-class
establishment."

Marguiretta's, Circa 1939: "An Elegant And High-Class Establishment."

Nor was Marguiretta's the
only brothel that ever occupied
the house on Fifth Street. For
13 years before Marguiretta
purchased the property Annie
Williams, "a very pretty,
light-skinned colored woman,"
as local historian Bernard P.
Chamberlain described her,
"ran it as a sporting house."

"As far as I know," said Mr.
Chamberlain, "she was the first
to use it as a brothel."

Mr. Chamberlain did
conjecture that there may have
been other, earlier houses of
ill-repute on that site as well.
Prior to 1909, only in 1862 did
the owner actually live in the
house. To what use, precisely,
it was put between 1862 and
1909 remains a mystery buried
in the past.

There is even the possibility
that the house was originally
built for "sporting."

Located near the C&O
railroad terminal, Marguiretta's
was solidly inside
Charlottesville's "red light
district." Up until Marguiretta
arrived in 1922, there were at
least three houses of
prostitution in that area.
Establishments run by "Aunt"
Matt Thomas and Mamie Fall
provided competition for
Annie Williams, Marguiretta's
predecessor.

French Creole

In that location, surrounded
by tenements, such an
imposing structure was
definitely unusual. The interior
design was also unusual for a
family dwelling, containing
seven bedrooms, each with a
separate bath. Mr. Chamberlain
thought that such a house
could only have been intended
as a boardinghouse or in the
capacity in which Marguiretta
used it.

Of Marguiretta herself, even
less documented information is
available. One gentleman who
knew her, yet wished to remain
anonymous, supplied some of
her background.

Though popularly known
to Charlottesville and now
the world by the Anglicized
version of her name,
Marguerite, her correct full
name was Marguiretta
B-Crescioli.

She was born in 1897,
according to her obituary, in a
prairie schooner in the
Midwest. Her father, an
American Indian, died shortly
after her birth, so Marguiretta
was taken by her French
Creole mother to her original
home in Quebec.

Charlottesville residents
remember Marguiretta as a
"date, correct, proper type
of person." Quiet and reserved,
she walked with dignity, yet,
according to Mr. Chamberlain,
"she was not terribly affable or
congenial with people."

Cultural Elegance

One man, however, who
had visited Marguiretta's with
his father at the tender age of
five said that she had been
quite pleasant toward him,
calling him "little boy" in her
low, musical voice.

Though she rarely left her
house, Marguerrita was
fond of music, and attended
concerts at the University.
Yet she claimed that she
never saw the Grounds by
daylight.

All in all, she led a very
quiet, discreet public life,
unusual perhaps for someone
of her profession.

In fact, she was considered
an unusual woman by the
community. Charlottesville in
one sense was different in
the 1930's and '40's, because
everybody knew everybody
else, the town was so small.
As one Charlottesville lady
put it, "Even the rabble was
considered exceptional merely
because they were
Charlottesville's.

"She was sort of an
accepted part of the scene
here." Large groups of
townspeople strongly
disapproved of her; her name
was not mentioned in polite
society, but Marguiretta
possessed a certain amount of
"cultural elegance," which has,
in the past few weeks, caught
the fancy of fortune hunters,
historians, and the curious all
over the world.