Chapter 4 Notes

[Footnote 58: Paul F. Norton, "Decatur House: Design and Designer," =Historic Preservation=, Volume 19, Numbers 3-4 (July-December 1967), pp. 9-24.]

[Footnote 59: Fiske Kimball, =Domestic Architecture of the American Colonies and of the Early Republic=, (New York: Dover, 1966 Reprint), p. 27.]

[Footnote 60: Rowland, =George Mason=, Volume II, p. 369.]

[Footnote 61: H. M. Pierce Gallagher, =Robert Mills= (New York: Columbia University Press, 1935), p. 170.]

[Footnote 62: Deering Davis, Stephen P. Dorsey, Ralph Cole Hall, =Georgetown Houses of the Federal Period=. (New York: Bonanza Books, 1944), pp. 21-23.]

[Footnote 63: Lonnelle Aikman, =We the People= (Washington: U.S. Capitol Historical Society, 1965), p. 33.]

[Footnote 64: H.M. Gallagher, =Robert Mills=, p. 169.]

[Footnote 65: George S. Hunsberger, "The Architectural Career of George Hadfield," =Records of the Columbia Historical Society=, Volume 51-52 (1955), pp. 46-65.]

[Footnote 66: =Ibid.=]

[Footnote 67: =Ibid.= p. 51. See also: Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone, =Dictionary of American Biography= (New York: Charles Scribner, 1932 (1931)), Vol. IV, p. 76.]

[Footnote 68: Letter, George Hadfield to Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson papers. Volume 222, op. 39775, Library of Congress.]

[Footnote 69: =Daily National Intelligencer=, February 13, 1826.]

[Footnote 70: Karl Schuon, =Home of the Commandants= (Washington: Leatherneck Association, 1966), pp. 61-64.]

[Footnote 71: Harry F. Cunningham, Joseph A. Younger, Wilmer Smith, =Measured Drawings of Georgian Architecture in the District of Columbia, 1750-1820= (New York: Architectural Book Co., 1914), Sheets 58-61.]

[Footnote 72: Original watercolor signed "Geo. Hadfield, Sept. 1798," Avery Library, Columbia University.]

[Footnote 73: Murray H. Nelligan, =Custis-Lee Mansion= (Washington: National Park Service, 1950), pp. 2-4, 6, 15, 24. The staff at Arlington House was also kind enough to allow the author the use of Mr. Nellingan's unpublished manuscript on Arlington House.]

[Footnote 74: H. Paul Caemmerer, =Historic Washington= (Washington: Columbia Historical Society, 1960), pp. 34, 39.]

[Footnote 75: Edith Moore Sprouse, "Died in a Kind of Fit Like....", Hollin Hills Bulletin, May and June-July, 1969.]

SUMMARY

It should be clear from the picture of Mason which emerges from an earlier part of this report that his tastes and his capabilities could have included a house designed by a known architect. His family ties, educational background, travels, position and social standing evidence the highest standards of his day. His acquisition of Colross, his sensitive repairs of that structure and the manner in which he seems to have furnished the house again indicate taste and awareness of current architectural trends.

The design evidence indicates that Mason did build well at Huntley, and that he sought assistance in doing so. Huntley's similarities to other area structures designed by the architect George Hadfield are striking. In addition, of all the architects in the area at the time Hadfield was most available and is believed to have already designed one house for the Mason family, Analostan. There is also good reason to believe that Thomson Francis Mason and Hadfield knew each other.

Whatever the derivation of the mansion house at Huntley, it survives as a notable example of early nineteenth century architecture; as an example of a farm or country house of an early nineteenth century city dweller; as a Mason family house and as a part of a well sited and relatively complete complex. When considered together, these factors make Huntley an important architectural landmark.

APPENDIX A

SOME MASON HOUSES IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA

Mason land holdings were vast in Stafford, Prince William, Loudoun and Fairfax Counties in Virginia, and in Maryland and Kentucky. In the northern Virginia area the Masons built or occupied a number of houses many of which are mentioned here.

Thomson Francis Mason Houses

_501 Cameron Street_, Alexandria. This is believed to be the "large and comodious" dwelling which, according to an 1823 entry in the _Alexandria Gazette_, Mason was renting at the corner of Cameron and Pitt Streets. The house is a three-story brick structure, probably built during the first quarter of the nineteenth century. It is still standing. (_Alexandria Gazette_, March 13, 1823 and November 1, 1833.)

_Colross_, Alexandria, 1100 block of Oronoco Street, block between Oronoco, Pendleton, North Henry and North Fayette. This was an existing house built in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, acquired by Thomson F. Mason in 1833. Mason was buried in a tomb behind the mansion after his death in 1838. The main house was moved to Princeton, New Jersey, in 1929 and rebuilt there. Today the block in Alexandria includes a warehouse, car wash, automobile repair facility and a transformer station. The present location of the remains of Thomson F. Mason, removed from Colross, is not known to the writer. (Mary G. Powell, _The History of Alexandria_, Va., Richmond, Wm. Byrd Press, 1928, p. 261; _New York Herald Tribune_, July 7, 1929, "Colross Built 1785, to come to Jersey site."; Mrs. Betty Carter Smoot, _Days in an Old Town_, Alexandria, privately printed, 1934, pp. 121-32; Henry H. Saylor, _Alexandria Virginia_, The White Pine Series, New York, Russell F. Whitehead, 1926, (photographs and drawings); plus additional material available in the Alexandria Public Library.)

_The Hallowell School_, 609 Oronoco Street, Alexandria. A two-and-a-half-story brick structure, built circa 1800, it is the companion house to the Lee Home, next door at 607 Oronoco. At 609, Benjamin Hallowell operated a school among whose students was Robert E. Lee. T.F. Mason acquired the house after the Hallowell School moved elsewhere, at public auction on February 9, 1835, though he may have lived there earlier as a tenant. By the time of purchase he was already a resident at Colross, but a sale advertisement for 609 Oronoco Street in 1839 calls it "... the late residence of the Honorable T. F. Mason ...". The house is still standing. (Deering Davis, Stephen P. Dorsey and Ralph Cole Hall, _Alexandria Houses_, Cornwall, N.Y. Architectural Book Publishing Co., Inc., 1946, pp. 88-89, 126; Benjamin Hallowell, _Autobiography_, Philadelphia, Friends Book Association, 1884, pp. 95-120. _Alexandria Gazette_, August 30, 1839,; Alexandria Deed Book V-2, p. 355(1835).)

_Huntley_, 6918 Harrison Lane, Groveton, Fairfax County. Still standing. Though Huntley was built during Mason's ownership of the property, no record has been found that he actually lived there.

_115 South St. Asaph Street_, Alexandria, is a two-and-one-half-story brick structure over an English basement built about 1800, and still standing. A sign on the structure says "Home of Thomas Mason, circa 1775." It was purchased by Mason in May of 1832, at about the same time that he purchased the lot next door at 117 S. St. Asaph Street. A three-story structure of the last quarter of the nineteenth century now stands there. Mason may have been a tenant at 115 before his purchase, but was already out of the house by November 8, 1833, when a Dr. Wheelwright announced that he had "... removed to the house on St. Asaph Street ... formerly occupied by Thomson F. Mason, Esq." (Deering Davis, Stephen P. Dorsey & Ralph Cole Hall, _Alexandria Houses_, Cornwall, N.Y., Architectural Book Publishing Co., Inc., 1946, p. 126; _Alexandria Gazette_, November 8, 1833. Alexandria Deed Books: U-2, p. 27 (1832); U-2, p. 29 (1832); and M-3, p. 646 (1852).)

This list includes only part of the real estate owned by Thomson Francis Mason. He lived in the Cameron Street house during the 1820's. He may have lived in either the Oronoco Street or St. Asaph Street houses before he purchased them. At any rate, he purchased Colross, Hallowell School and the St. Asaph Street houses in the decade before his death. He died in 1838 and was buried at Colross. There are long periods of time unaccounted for and probably many real estate transactions which have not yet been documented.

Other Mason Houses

_Analostan_, home of General John Mason. Located on the Potomac River in the District of Columbia on Theodore Roosevelt Island, known in the past as Barbadoes, Mason's Island, or Analostan. Built in the 1790's, its design is attributed to George Hadfield. General Mason sold the house about 1833 and moved to Clermont. Parts of the Analostan house stood until the 1930's when they were demolished by the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Association. (_Sunday Star_, Feb. 6, 1921, Rambler "... History of Analostan Island;" _Star_, June 4, 1958, Rambler, "Revisits Analostan Island;" _Virginia Record_, July 1956, p. 9, Mollie Somerville, "George Mason's Island;" Rowland, _George Mason_, New York, Russell & Russell, 1892 and 1946, Vol I, p. 117; Harry F. Cunningham, Joseph A. Younger, and J. Wilmer Smith, _Measured Drawings of Georgian Architecture in the District of Columbia_, 1750-1820, New York, Architectural Book Company 1914, Sheets 58-61.)

_Clermont_, which was purchased by General John Mason and to which he and his family moved in 1833. Site near Fairfax County-Alexandria line, off Clermont Drive, near point where the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac tracks cross Cameron Run. It was demolished in the 19th Century. ("Diary of Miss Mason," beginning Sept. 20th 1833, property of Mrs. Augustus Thorndike, partial copy in Gunston Hall archives (Analostan file); Christine Gibson unpublished report, Fairfax County Public Library, Virginiana Collection.)

_Gunston Hall_, home of George Mason IV, in Fairfax County. The house is a one-and-one-half-story brick structure, with interiors by William Buckland joiner and architect. In the garden is one of America's best surviving stands of English Boxwood. The house still stands on Route 242, 4 miles southeast of Route 1, and south of Fort Belvoir. It is owned by the Commonwealth of Virginia and administered as an historic house museum by a Board of Regents of the National Society of Colonial Dames. (Thomas Tileston Waterman, _The Mansions of Virginia_, Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1946.)

_Hollin Hall_, built for and occupied by General Thomson Mason, son of George Mason IV of Gunston Hall, and father of T.F. Mason. It was a two-story frame structure, which burned early in the nineteenth century. Part of the complex may still exist, or be incorporated into the present structure known as Little Hollin Hall at 1901 Sherwood Hall Lane, in Fairfax County south of Alexandria. (Rowland, _George Mason_, New York, Russell & Russell, 1892 and 1946, Volume II, pps. 307, 351, and numerous others; _Hollin Hills Bulletin_, May 1969, June-July, 1969.)

_Lexington_, in Fairfax County, built for George Mason V, son of George of Gunston Hall and uncle of T.F. Mason. The house stood on Mason Neck, near Gunston Hall. The structure burned in the nineteenth century. (Rowland, _George Mason_, New York, Russell & Russell, 1892 and 1946,