The date of construction and the name of the builder of the house known as Salona are unknown.

There have been many changes to the mansion house, the outbuildings and grounds through the years. The central house now has only one wing instead of the earlier two. The large barn has been torn down; only the substantial foundation bears witness to its size. A pile of rubble marks the site of "the old stone house," thought by the Smoot family to have been the oldest structure on the property. The driveway entrance is off Buchanan Street instead of the Falls Road, although evidence of the older driveway still exists. The rear entrance road has been blocked by subdivision construction, although its route remains visible across the south side of the property. Perhaps the most decided changes are in the use of the land itself. As McLean grew, the Salona farm shrank in area and its formerly fertile acres were transformed into shopping centers, subdivisions, streets and roads.

Architectural historians say that they cannot pin-point the exact construction date of Salona, but believe it to have been between 1790 and 1810, a full twenty-year span. This belief is based in part on examination of the types of nails used in the attic of the main house, as well as the similarity of the "cross and Bible" door at the north entrance to some of the doors at Sully, whose construction began in 1793. [129] Many local sources claim that the house was built in 1801 by William Maffitt, [130] but this supposition has not been documented. The Smoot children were always told by their elders that the house was started in 1790 and finished in 1801, and that Maffitt was the builder. There was a residential structure on the land when the 466 acres were advertised for sale in 1811. [131]

Originally, the house was probably a rectangular two-story, five-bay structure with flanking wings, which may have been frame. On the north front, the brickwork is Flemish bond; on the other three sides and the wing it is common bond. There are two interior end chimneys. An elaborate bracketed cornice supports the gabled roof. This cornice and the bracketed entrance porch with paired, squared columns show definite Victorian influence and were probably originally added after the Civil War. The DuVals altered the design slightly when they renovated the house in 1952.

The most unusual feature of Salona is its wide T-shaped hall which runs the full width of the north front of the central house, with the main stairway rising at its west end directly across one of the front windows. The long hall originally led to the wings on either end, but these were apparently destroyed during the Civil War and only the east wing was rebuilt in 1866. There is a fireplace in every room, although most of the Federal-style mantels have been recently installed in Salona and have come from old houses in North Carolina and New England. There are chair rails on the walls of the living room, dining room, and the first floor hallway. Extensive remodeling was done by the present owners. [132] The T-shaped hall ends on the solid wall behind the stairway on the west side, and on the east leads directly into the post-Civil War wing which contains a small sitting room, bathroom, and the kitchen. The smaller hall, the stem of the T, runs perpendicular to the main hall with opposing entrance doors at each end. The spacious living and dining rooms flank the smaller hall, with entrances from the main hall.

It is a Smoot family legend that Constantino Brumidi, the Italian immigrant who painted many of the murals in the U. S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., was given shelter by the Smoots, probably after the Civil War, when he was destitute. As a token of his gratitude, he decorated the ceilings of the living room and dining room with flowers and fruits. No trace of these paintings now exists. However, when the DuVals purchased Salona in 1952, there were clearly remains of paintings on the walls and ceilings. But the plaster was in such poor condition that it had to be completely replaced.

On the second floor, an upper hall, slightly smaller than the one below, runs across the north front. It may once have been an open "T" before modernization and the addition of two bathrooms by the DuVals. To the right from the head of the stairs is the master bedroom with a brick hearth and brick and wood mantel. The next bedroom, almost as large, also contains a brick and wood mantel. In the east wing, the hall leads directly into a den from which a stairway goes up to an attic bedroom and bath, both added by the DuVals. The den also serves as a passageway to a secondary hallway from which open two smaller bedrooms separated by another stairway leading to the first floor close to the kitchen. The unfinished portion of the attic is used for storage. There is a partial basement, primarily under the east wing.

No copy of the original floor plan has been found. Records of the Virginia Mutual Assurance Society in Richmond show that no fire insurance was ever purchased from them on Salona, hence no floor plan drawings are on file there. [133]

Because Maffitt died intestate, his estate was inventoried and appraised. As a result, we know that the original house contained a dining room furnished with a "set of three dining tables" and 24 Windsor chairs, which tends to support the tradition that the original dining room was in the west wing, possibly occupying the entire first floor of it. [134]

According to Smoot family legend, Salona was built entirely by slaves, who made the brick from clay on the property. These legends also claim that the woodwork was made by William Buckland who did the woodwork at Gunston Hall in 1758. This seems unlikely as William Buckland died in 1774. Smoot family legends also say that the house was built by Maffitt, with construction starting in 1790 and ending in 1801, and that the wings were larger than the main house.

Although the DuVals found no remnants of a west wing foundation when they were doing extensive grading, there is visual evidence in the brick mortar that a doorway and a window existed in the west end of the main house. Moreover, architectural historians believe that the placement of the kitchen and summer kitchen testify to the west wing's existence. Furthermore, the Smoots agree that their older relatives stated that the Yankees destroyed the west wing which was never rebuilt.

West wall, showing evidence of a former doorway opening.
Photo by the author, 1975.

Salona entrance hall. Photo by the author, 1975.