First quarter of the 20th century. 2306 S. Fayette St. (west of intersection with Eisenhower Drive [WV 3])
The Raleigh Coal and Coke Company built this large, white-stuccoed house overlooking its operations for its vice president and general manager, Colonel Ernest Chilson, who lived here until his death in 1931. As its name indicates, it was meant to appear as a Spanish, or Mediterranean, villa. It was later remodeled to serve as headquarters for District 29 of the United Mine Workers.
The company also sponsored the nearby Black Knight Country Club, whose much-remodeled clubhouse was designed by Bluefield architect Alex B. Mahood. A sixty-room resort hotel, proposed in 1919, was to have been called the Black Knight Inn. It never materialized, but Mahood's drawings remain at the Eastern Regional Coal Archives in Bluefield.