Whitehall is located at Simonton Bridge Road and Whitehall Road (Tax Parcel No. 18-3----010) on university property southeast of the city limits.
 

Standing on the crest of a ridge at the edge of the manufacturing hamlet of Whitehall, this mansion features the irregular massing of large geometric forms and the picturesque piling of minor elements characteristic of the Queen Anne style, although details such as the porch's arched entrance reveal the influence of the Richardsonian Romanesque style. The house distinguishes itself from other Victorian architecture through its designer's devotion to a three-dimensional hierarchy concerning height, depth, and scale. Masonry construction includes walls of red brick resting on a foundation of rough-faced, random stonework. A roof covered with pressed-metal imitation shingles shelters the decorative use of brick, stone, terracotta, and wood to form stringcourses, sills, lintels, and panels.

A relatively open layout organizes rooms around cross-axial corridors and the stairway. The rich diversity of interior ornamentation includes wallpaper, plaster, and a variety of hardwoods such as white oak, curly maple, black cherry, birch, and walnut. Elaborate craftsmanship abounds in windows enriched by sheet glass, leaded glass, beveled glass, etched glass, and stained glass. The grounds illustrate the English landscape aesthetic of the late-nineteenth century. A small wellhouse, the sole remaining outbuilding, is located behind the main building.

The community of Whitehall settled around the Georgia Factory, a textile mill built down on the Oconee River about a mile north of the Whitehall mansion. Arriving in Athens around 1837, John R. White purchased the mill and built a home in close proximity. His son, John Richards White, having dropped out of the University of Georgia to serve in the Civil War, afterwards took a leading role in his father's varied business interests, eventually becoming president of the Whitehall Yarn Mills, the Athens Foundry and Machine Works, the Athens Compress Company, and the National Bank of Athens. He also served as a director of the Southern Mutual Insurance Company. After the death of his father and mother, he built Whitehall and moved the former family home to the rear of the site, where it served as a school for his children until it was moved to Dillard, Georgia in 1906. Attributed to Athens architect William Winstead Thomas, Whitehall was completed by 1892. White's descendants occupied the home until 1936, when the Georgia Rural Rehabilitation Corporation acquired the dwelling and its 1,875 acres. The government agency subsequently deeded the land to the University of Georgia Board of Regents. A 750-acre tract south of the house became the Whitehall Experimental Forest, whose caretakers occupied the house through 1966. The School of Forest Resources temporarily converted the building to office and laboratory space for a three year span. In 1977 the School restored the residence, utilizing the upper floors for caretaker's quarters, the main floor rooms for receptions, and the basement for meetings. In 1978 the School of Forest Resources received one of the first three awards for outstanding restoration projects from the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation.

Whitehall is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (June 18, 1979).