Washington Winter Show 2016

42 This page is sponsored by Alexandria Committee of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America Mason’s Home The house’s initial framework (Figure 3) of Flemish bond brick and sandstone quoins from nearby Aquia Creek was completed in 1754, but Mason still had to finish the interior. He worked through his brother Thomson, who was in England, to contract with a young English carpenter and joiner named William Buckland (1734–1774) to supervise the rest of the work. Buckland devoted his architectural and design skill to Gunston Hall until its completion in 1759, as did a second indentured artisan, English master carver William Bernard Sears. The creative duo of Buckland and Sears innovatively combined numerous design styles, including Chippendale, Palladian, Rococo and Baroque, to produce a singular American architectural masterpiece (Figures 4–6). 6 The completed Gunston Hall exemplified an eighteenth-century plantation manse, although, interestingly, its elegant and varied interiors contrast with the unassuming—yet welcoming—façade. Buckland went on to design other prestigious Tidewater properties, including Col. John Tayloe’s house, Mount Airy, in Richmond County and the Hammond-Harwood House in Annapolis, establishing his reputation as a leading colonial architect. Mason’s home plantation included approximately 6,000 acres and many buildings and people. The landscape was dotted with log slave homes, as well as the small dwellings of indentured servants, and the numerous outbuildings required for the efficient running of the plantation. The plantation was divided into several separate “farms” and was worked by approximately ninety enslaved people. George Mason never employed a steward and, as a result, was intimately involved in the plantation’s management. Mason also was keenly interested in the decorative landscape. In his 1830 memoir, published by Gunston Hall as The Recollections of John Mason, his son John describes his father’s attention to the terrain and gardens. A particular delight of Mason’s was an optical illusion created by the placement of several rows of cherry trees along the carriage road leading to the main house. “More than once I have known my father, under whose especial care this singular and beautiful display of trees had been arranged and preserved, and who set great value on them, amuse his friends by inviting some gentleman or lady…to the north front to see the grounds,” John says. The elder Mason enjoyed his guests’ surprise upon learning what they thought to be only four trees were actually, “as if by magic, four long and Figure 4: Gunston Hall, Palladian room. This elaborately decorated room served as one of two spaces dedicated to entertaining guests. The beaufats, crown molding, and window decorations are all original. The mantel decorations were restored in the 20th century according to ghosting evident on the paneling.