66 
House & Garden 
c z 
I CHARLES of LONDON | 
718 FIFTH AVENUE 
NEW YORK 
OBJECTS OF ART 
ENGLISH PERIOD FURNITURE 
OLD ENGLISH INTERIORS 
TAPESTRIES 
London—27-29 Brook Street W. 
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DINNER SERVICES 
BREAKFAST AND TEA WARE 
DEMI-TASSE SETS SALAD SETS 
INDIVIDUAL SERVICES 
Of English and French China 
CRYSTAL TABLE SERVICES 
TABLE DECORATIONS 
ICED TEA, HIGHBALL, COCKTAIL 
AND SHERBET SETS 
Representing all the celebrated makers. 
Exclusive designs, moderately priced. 
9-11 EAST 37 — ST., NEW YORK 
George Washington, Architect 
and Decorator 
(Continued from page 64) 
Stables at Muddy-hole. . . . Complet¬ 
ing the Dormant Windows in the back 
of the Stable at Mansion house and put¬ 
ting two in the front of it agreeably to 
directions given to Thomas Green.” 
Washington’s Architectural Interests 
In the period between 1759 and 1775 
Washington also had architectural inter¬ 
ests beyond the bounds of the Mount 
Vernon estate. He was a vestryman of 
Pohick parish and when the new parish 
church was erected in 1769, he was ac¬ 
tively concerned in supervising the un¬ 
dertaking. It is said that he himself 
designed Pohick Church and, consider¬ 
ing all the attendant circumstances, there 
is not only no improbability in such a 
supposition but several things lend color 
of reason to the belief, even setting aside 
a certain family resemblance discernible 
between Pohick and the fabric of Mount 
Vernon. It is quite certain that he was 
a member of the committee entrusted 
with the superintendence of the work of 
construction and that he gave not a lit¬ 
tle time to the discharge of this duty. 
He was likewise a vestryman of Christ 
Church, Alexandria, designed by one 
Wren, a connection of the famous Sir 
Christopher, and served on the building 
committee there also, his architectural 
knowledge making his advice particu¬ 
larly valuable. Another instance of his 
architectural proficiency is to be found 
in Fredericksburg. The design of the 
chimney piece in the library at Kenmore, 
the home of his sister, Betty Washing¬ 
ton (Mrs. Fielding Lewis), representing 
in compo Aesop’s fable of the Fox and 
tire Crow, has always been attributed to 
Washington and there seems to be no 
good reason to doubt the trustworthiness 
of the tradition, knowing, as we do, 
Washington’s skill with his pencil and 
the custom of the times when gifted 
amateurs were wont to indulge in just 
such pieces of design as a mark of at¬ 
tention and favor to the recipient. 
G. W.—Decorator 
Washington’s solicitude for the proper 
and tasteful furnishing, not only of 
Mount Vernon but also of his temporary 
abodes in Philadelphia and New York 
during the terms of his Presidency, is 
abundantly evidenced in his letters to 
his aides, secretaries, managers and 
agents. This aspect of his many-sided 
interests first comes conspicuously into 
notice in the lists of items ordered from 
Robert Cary & Company, his London 
correspondents, for the fuller equipment 
of Mount Vernon after his return thither 
with his bride in 1759. A few of the 
furnishings remained from the days of 
Lawrence Washington, a good deal was 
brought from Mrs. Washington’s previ¬ 
ous homes, but “in the main Mount Ver¬ 
non was refurnished by order on Lon¬ 
don.” Although custom is apt to accord 
Mrs. Washington some credit for the 
choice of furnishings in her home, we 
must remember that it was Washington 
himself who penned the order, specifying 
all minutiae with his wonted exactitude, 
and one rather more than suspects that 
it was he who exercised at least a final 
determining choice when, among other 
miscellaneous items on a long list to be 
sent out from England, we find in¬ 
cluded :— 
“1 Tester Bedstead 7 Yi feet pitch with 
fashionable blue or blue and white cur¬ 
tains to suit a Room laid w yl Ireld. 
paper.— 
“Window curtains of the same for 
two windows; with either Papier Mache 
Cornish to them, or Cornish covered 
with the Cloth. 
“1 fine Bed Coverlid to match the 
Curtains. 4 Chair bottoms of the same; 
that is, as much ‘covering suited to the 
above furniture as will go over the seats 
of 4 Chairs (which I have by me) in 
order to make the whole furniture of 
this Room uniformly handsome and 
genteel . 
“2 Setts of Chamber, or Bed Carpets 
—.Wilton. 
“4 Fashionable China Branches & 
Stands for Candles.” 
And so the list run on. If the mis¬ 
tress of Mount Vernon exercised any 
choice in the foregoing items, the taste 
of the master is plainly traceable in the 
following. In another order not long 
after, under the heading “Directions for 
Busts”, we read:— 
“4. One of Alexander the Great; an¬ 
other of Julius Caesar; another of 
Charles XII. of Sweden; and a fourth 
of the King of Prussia. 
N. B. These are not to exceed fifteen 
inches in height, nor ten in width. 
“2 Other busts, of Prince Eugene and 
the Duke of Marlborough, somewhat 
smaller. 
“2 Wild Beasts, not to exceed twelve 
inches in height, nor eighteen in length.” 
It is interesting to note that busts of 
the worthies named were not to be had 
in the sizes stipulated and in their stead 
came “Pius Aeneas” carrying “Pater 
Anchises”, Bacchus and Flora, and 
“Two Lyons after the antique Lyons 
in Italy, finished neat & bronzed with 
copper.” 
In 1774, when the furniture belonging 
to Colonel Fairfax at Belvoir was dis¬ 
posed of at public sale, Washington 
showed characteristic taste and discrim¬ 
ination in what he bought to supplement 
the appointments of Mount Vernon. On 
numerous other occasions he displayed 
a like interest in the furnishing and 
decoration of his home as entries in his 
diary and passages from letters prove. 
One of them is too characteristic and 
illuminating to omit quoting. It is from 
a letter of instructions to his secretary, 
Tobias Lear, who was in Philadelphia 
negotiating for the lease of Robert Mor¬ 
ris’s house, in Market street near Fifth, 
as an Executive Mansion just prior to 
the removal of the Federal Capital from 
New York to Philadelphia. Anent fix¬ 
ing the figure of rental, the letter con¬ 
tains the ensuing passage:— 
“but let us for a moment suppose that 
the rooms (the new ones I mean) were 
to be hung with tapestry, or a very rich 
and costly paper, neither of which would 
suit my present furniture; that costly 
ornaments for the bow windows, extrav¬ 
agant chimney pieces and the like were 
to be provided;” . . . 
Continuing, he says:—- 
“Mr. and Mrs. Morris have insisted 
upon leaving the. two large looking glass¬ 
es which are in their best rooms because 
they have no place, they say, proper to 
remove them to, and because they are 
unwilling to hazard the taking of them 
down. You will, therefore, let them 
have instead the choice of mine; the 
large one I purchased of the French 
minister they do not incline to take, but 
will be glad of some of the others. They 
will also leave a large glass lamp in the 
entry or hall, and will take one or more 
of my glass lamps in lieu of it . . . Mrs. 
Morris has a mangle (I think it is 
called) for ironing clothes, which, as it 
is fixed in the place where it is com¬ 
monly used, • she proposes to leave, and 
take mine. To this I have no objection, 
provided mine is equally good and con¬ 
venient; but if I should obtain any ad¬ 
vantages, besides that of its being up and 
ready for use, I am not inclined to re¬ 
ceive it. ... By means of the bow 
windows the back rooms will become 
the largest, and of course will receive 
the furniture of the largest dining and 
drawing rooms, and in that case, though 
there are no closets in them, there are 
(Continued on page 68) 
