[3] In 1536, at the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the priory was shut down and the land later bought by a politician named Thomas Hawkins alias Fisher, during the reign of Edward VI.

[3][4] Alexander W. Weddell, a wealthy American diplomat and his wife Virginia Chase Steedman, however, offered a lump sum of £3,500 for the entire remaining structure and secured a deal before the auction was held.

[4] The objection to the purchase was also backed by a Member of Parliament (MP) who proposed that the sale be invalidated in order to prevent this "act of vandalism".

[5] Virginia House was constructed in the Windsor Farms neighborhood of Richmond by the General Contracting firm of Allen J. Saville, Inc., although several different architects were employed during the rebuilding.

On June 13, 1990, Virginia House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, due to it being considered "a noteworthy representative of a peculiar residential building type prevalent in the late 19th and early 20th century period of American architecture.

[7] However, the center of the house is a reproduction of the original Warwickshire priory and uses the curvilinear gables, strapwork design, and balustrades that the English commonly adapted from the Low Countries in the early seventeenth century.

[7] The interior to Virginia House is elegant with oak furnishings and an assortment of English and Spanish antiques, oriental carpets, silks, and silverware.

The first floor consists mainly of large, elaborate rooms, intended for social meetings and to house the functions and exhibits of the Virginia Historical Society.

The second floor was mainly designed to be used as the private living quarters of the Weddells and their staff and featured a large library, which now functions as the boardroom and research facility of the Virginia Historical Society.

Freestanding Corinthian columns in the hallway form an ornamental gateway and stained glass doors at the end enter the rear porch arcade.