Rosewell's Architecture and Topography 



The exact size of the Rosewcll estate as inherited l)y 

 the iirst Mann Page is uncertain, hut we know that 

 when he died his three sons inherited a total of 70,001) 

 \'irginia acres, most of which must have been in the 

 vicinity of the home plantation. As mentioned 

 earlier, the Page home was built on the western shore 

 of Carter's Creek where it enters the York River, and 

 it is supposed that the first house stood in this general 

 area, although no traces of it have yet come to light. 



It would appear that the huge number of bricks 

 needed in the building of Rosewell were fired on the 

 site from clay dug nearby. There is some indication 

 that Mann Page II, who completed the house, also 

 pro\ ided brick used in the building of Carter's Grove 

 on the James.'* The digging of clay could readily 

 explain the existence of numerous trash-filled pits 

 that exist on the Rosewell property — pits too large to 

 be explained away merely as repositories for domestic 

 refuse. 



The bricks were laid in Flemish bond with random 

 glazed headers, no attempt being made to use the 

 glazed bricks in decorative patterns. Such a simple 

 and common device was unnecessary in a building 

 that boasted so many ornamental features. All the 

 corners and window jambs were of rubljed bricks, 

 their vermilion color carefully selected and matched, 

 while gauged bricks were used for the belt courses, 

 window arches, panels beneath the sills, and, most 

 dramatically, for the great doorways in the centers of 

 the north and south walls. The window sills, key- 

 stones, doorway caps, and pilaster bases were of 

 Portland stone, with the latter carefully and elabo- 

 rately fluted to match the remarkable brick pilasters 

 above. 



The house stood a full three stories above an 

 English basement, the windows in each story being 

 less tall than those of the floor ijeneath, and the 

 windows above the main doors being of greater width 

 to balance the Ijreadth of the doors themsehes. A 

 parapet of uncertain form surrounded the flat roof, 

 traces of which can still be .seen in the stone cornices 

 set into the chimneys at the height of the original 

 parapet caps. This feature was removed during the 

 Booth era in the mid-l^th century, as also were the 

 two cupolas. A fanciful engraving of Rosewell with 

 the cupolas intact is to be found in Bishop Meade's 



Old Churches, Ministers and Families of Virginia,^^ but 

 it is obvious that the picture bears little resemblance 

 to Rosewell as it was in the colonial or any other 

 period. Lucy Biu'well Page Saunders, who knew the 

 place well, gave the following description of Rose- 

 wcll in her story Leonora and the Ghost, published 

 in 1876: 



... a wall of bricks, suniiounlcd by large flagstones, sur- 

 rounded the lop of the building. At each end was a tur- 

 ret, within which were small apartments and on the roof 

 of each, large weather cocks whirled mournfully. Into one 

 of the rooms you ascended from the winding staircase, 

 leading from the basement to the roof. From the other, 

 called the summerhouse, you beheld from its four fine win- 

 dows beautiful views of the winding Carter's Creek, and 

 the majestic York River.'^ 



The 19th-century alterations saw the removal of 

 the deck on hip roof and the construction of a low 

 hip roof with pediments added at east and west, 

 pediments which were constructed of brick laid in 

 informal bond, contrasting unfavorably with the 

 uniformity of the Flemish bond beneath. 



The splendor of the ornamental brick doorways at 

 north and south was rivaled by the great arched win- 

 dows at east and west that cast cathedral-like shafts 

 of light into the stair hall. The hall, which was 

 entered from the north, was the mansion's princi- 

 pal room and, when occasion demanded, was used 

 as a ballroom. It is probable that originally the hall 

 was richly paneled in mahogany, but all that remained 

 of the woodwork after Booth had departed were the 

 balustrade and stringer of the great staircase. Photo- 

 graphs of the staircase taken in the 1890's and in the 

 early years of the present century show that it was un- 

 doubtedly the finest in America, being wide enough 

 for eight persons to ascend abreast. The principal 

 features of the staircase were the immense newel and 

 the fascia board around the well with its carved floral 

 and foliate .scrolls and baskets of fruit, a style so 

 similar to that of surviving fascia at Tuckahoe that 

 the two probably were made by the same hand. 

 The treatment of the balusters is also paralleled at 

 Tuckahoe as well as at Sabine Hall and Westover, 

 althou"h these are all lighter and more delicate. 



" Waterman, op. cit. (footnote .S), p. li: 



'^ William Meade, Old Churches, Minislcrs and Famtliis of 

 Virginia, Philadelphia, 1 857, opposite p. 332. 



'* Lucy Buivvell Page Saunders, Leonora and the Ghost, Balti- 

 more, 1876, p. 3. Mrs. Saunders was a daughter of Governor 

 John Page. 



160 



BULLETIN 225: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY .\ND TECHNOLOGY 



