The Laurel Brigade Law Group operates from and is named for the Laurel Brigade Inn, a property with a long history.
The land was first owned by Nicholas Minor, who in 1758 divided his tract of land in Georgetown into lots for the beginning of the town of Leesburg.
The building site was sold to “Peter Gregor, for the sum of forty shillings.” Gregor did not build and in 1760, he sold the tract to Philip and Margaret Coonts, who in turn transferred the property in 1762 to Conrad Spece. Four years later, Space sold to John Miller.
Indications are that Miller erected the first section of the building and is listed as operating an “ordinary.” The ordinary offered a meal and a stay on a “single upstairs bed on space available.”
Captain William Douglas, a substantial Leesburg land purchaser, bought the land and building from Miller in 1771 for 120 pounds, and he rented the building to John Thornton, an attorney at law. In February 1781, Thornton purchased “this lot upon which Thornton now dwells.”
There is every indication that Thornton built onto the original structure. His son, Beverly Berryman Thornton, lived in the house until it was sold in 1796 to Francis Triplett, who kept its residential status. Triplett reconstructed the house, and erected the front two rooms of stone.
The next change came in 1817, when Eleanor and Henry Peers purchased the property and converted the house once again into an ordinary with the establishment of the Peers Hotel. The hotel enjoyed an excellent reputation, considered “the best place to meet and to discuss business.” When the Marquis de Lafayette came to Leesburg in the company of former President Monroe and President John Adams, he was served from the facilities at the Peers Hotel.
The Peers Hotel was in operation until 1835, when it closed after the death of Eleanor Peers, and the heirs sold the property to Daniel and Ellen Smith, who once more converted it to a residence. In 1854, they sold it to Dr. Armistead Mott, an owner of the Mott and Pursell retail business, and his wife. Full ownership was transferred to his wife and daughter in 1881. Miss Virginia Mott continued to reside there until the mid-1940s.
In 1946, Roy Flippo and his wife purchased the property from the Estate of Virginia Mott, and once more converted it to an “ordinary”— Laurel Brigade Inn. The name was chosen from a Loudoun unit in the Civil War that participated in the last cavalry charge of the war. In 1983, owners Mrs. Ellen Wall and her brother, Roy Flippo added the gazebo and landscaped gardens designed to fit the era of the buildings.
In late 2003, the Laurel Brigade was purchased by Marquis Investment Group LLC, a Virginia company made up of Loudoun natives and longtime residents, for conversion to law and other professional offices. Marquis Investment Group and the renovation and restoration project was led by the late Joe S. Ritenour, a Loudoun attorney and entrepreneur. Great care was taken and extensive planning done to ensure, to the extent possible, that the historic integrity of the building was preserved during the work. The predecessor law firms of Ritenour Paice & Mougin-Boal and Daniel J. Travostino moved into the renovated space in 2004 and have operated in the building ever since.
