353-357 Chestnut Ave

From the National Register nomination

Two-story frame Victorian duplex with a pressed metal shingle gable roof. The north half has weatherboard siding; the south half has asbestos shingle siding. Each section has a one-story front porch with posts, sawn brackets, and lattice underpinnings. The north porch retains its decorative original balusters; the south porch has replacement rectangular-section 'balusters. Other features include a brick foundation, a circular gable vent with a pierced chrysanthemum design, 2/2 windows, and a one-story bay window on the north gable end with a bracketed cornice, paneled apron, and decorative window surrounds. Each section has somewhat modified original two-story ells. A photograph taken in the summer of 1890 and published in Waynesboro Days of Yore (vol. 2, p. 31) shows the house shortly after construction with the two rear wings in their original configuration (the 353 wing is closest to its original appearance). Tax records for 1892 suggest the building had two owners: Frances Shirkey, who appears to have owned 353, and A. B. Cone, apparent owner of 357. The 1900 census shows the Shirkey and Cone famulies living side by side on Chestnut. Frances was the wife of Beale Shirkey, superintendent of a limestone quarry. Alfred B. Cone, a druggist, occupied his half of the dwelling with his mother Rebecca and a black servant named Margaret Smith. In 1935 353 was occupied by Charles H. Patterson and 357 by W. C. McComb.