Mount Airy, near Warsaw
in Richmond County,
Virginia
, built in 1758-62, is a mid-Georgian plantation house, the first built in the manner of
a neo-Palladian villa. It was constructed for Colonel John
Tayloe, perhaps the richest Virginia planter of his generation.
Mount Airy is listed on the
National Register of
Historic Places as a
National Historic Landmark.
Architecture
The
architect responsible for the design
of Mount Airy is thought to be
John
Ariss, a notable professional architect in
colonial Virginia.
Mount Airy is composed of a massive two-story central block above a
high
basement, long and deep, two curving
one-story passageways, and two -square two-story end dependencies
set forward. The five-part unit, long, encloses three sides of a
semi-circular
forecourt. This court is
raised by a low
terrace above
the entrance drive and is reached by cut and molded stone steps,
flanked by elaborate carved stone vases on pedestals.
Set on a ridge, the house commands a wide view of the Rappahannock
River Valley
. The three-foot thick walls of the central
unit are made of dark-brown
sandstone,
carefully hewn and laid in
course of random height, with
architectural trim in light-colored
limestone. It is possible that the exterior may
originally have been
stuccoed though no trace
remains. The north or entrance
façade is
approached from the forecourt by a flight of steps leading to a
recessed
loggia, whose square
columns, faced with four
Roman Doric
pilasters, define three rectilinear
openings. The projecting central
pavilion is of
rusticated limestone, with three windows in the second story and a
crowning
pediment. The south or garden
facade is almost identical in composition except that the three
entrances in the pavilion are spanned by round
arches with heavily marked
voussoirs and
keystone, and the upper windows are
unframed. The other windows are framed by stone
architraves and sills, and the limestone belt
course and rusticated angle
quoins are very
prominent. The existing broad
hip roof,
pierced by four interior
chimneys located
near the ridge, is a replacement of the original roof, possibly a
hip-on-hip that was destroyed by fire in 1844.
The south
or rear elevation was undoubtedly taken directly from Plate
LVIII of James Gibbs' Book of
Architecture and the north elevation was less directly derived
from a plate of Haddo
House
in Scotland
, shown in
William Adam's
Vitruvius Scoticus.
The two stone two-story dependencies have hipped roofs and central
chimneys and their corners are given the same quoin treatment as
the main house. The connecting passageways, also of stone, are
quadrants covered with shed roofs that are concealed from the north
or front. At the junction with the central block, the roofs of the
connections are stepped up to allow entrances to the main floor of
the house.
Gardens
The shaped terraced levels of its gardens are still clearly visible
beneath its modern covering of lawn. Mount Airy has the earliest
surviving
Orangery in North America.
History
The land where Mount Airy is situated was owned by the Tayloe
family of Virginia for over one hundred years when Colonel John
Tayloe II, a fourth generation tobacco planter, began construction
of the house. The project was started around 1748 with completion
in 1758. Tayloe used reference books of the day to incorporate
architectural themes that give Mount Airy a feeling of strength.
The house has passed through ownership several times, but has
always remained within the Tayloe family. The house is currently
owned by Mrs. H. Gwynne Tayloe, Jr. and is still a private family
residence.
Col. Tayloe's son-in-law
Francis
Lightfoot Lee, a signer of the
Declaration of Independence, was
housed nearby, in a house built for him by Col. Tayloe,
Menokin
Plantation. The grave of Lee and his wife are located in the
Tayloe family
cemetery, approximately from
Mount Airy.
A fire in 1844 gutted the house, which was rebuilt within its shell
of brown sandstone with limestone
quoins. The original floorplan was
preserved during the reconstruction.
Current use
Mount Airy is a private house in the Tayloe family and is not open
to the public. The Tayloe family papers are at the
Virginia Historical
Society.
Listing on National Register of Historic Places
Mount Airy was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
on October 15, 1966. It was identified as a
National Historic Landmark on
October 9, 1960.
See also
Notes
- NRHP Inventory, Nomination Form, § 8,
Significance
- NRHP Inventory, Nomination Form, § 7, Description
- NRHP Inventory, Nomination Form, § 7, Description
- NRHP Inventory, Nomination Form, § 7, Description
- NRHP Inventory, Nomination Form, § 7, Description
- NRHP Inventory, Nomination Form, § 7, Description
- NRHP Inventory, Nomination Form, § 7, Description
- NRHP Inventory, Nomination Form, § 7, Description
- NRHP Inventory, Nomination Form, § 7, Description
- NRHP Inventory, Nomination Form, § 7, Description
- NRHP Inventory, Nomination Form, § 7, Description
- NRHP Inventory, Nomination Form, § 7, Description
- NRHP Inventory, Nomination Form, § 7, Description
- NRHP Inventory, Nomination Form, § 7, Description
- NRHP Inventory, Nomination Form, § 7, Description
- NRHP Inventory, Nomination Form, § 7, Description
- NRHP Inventory, Nomination Form, § 8,
Significance
- NRHP Inventory, Nomination Form, § 8,
Significance
- NRHP Inventory, Nomination Form, § 7, Description
References
External links
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