THE ARCHITECT OF HUNTLEY

The construction of Huntley was probably not supervised by an architect. There are too many imperfections for that. At the same time, it is too architectonic to have either evolved or been put together from style manuals. It is likely instead that the building derived from an architect's plan.

The Architectural Plan

The mansion house at Huntley has remarkable refinement for a secondary house of a Virginia planter's family. This includes not only concept, scale, and the manner in which the component parts hold together, but extends to detail as well. For example, both the center first floor room and the east wing have corner blocks, of two different designs, as a part of door and window architraves. The architect Benjamin Latrobe used corner blocks, for which the drawings still exist, in some of the rooms at Decatur House in 1818.[58] Fiske Kimball, the architectural historian, believes that:

In the Forrester House and the Andrew House there [Salem, Massachusetts] at this time [1818], and in the Decatur House, Washington, just before, we find the first examples of doors framed, not by a mitred architrave, but by moulded bands with corner blocks, which remained characteristic through the middle of the Century.[59]

That Huntley, c. 1820, should have corner blocks, is probably too much to expect from a local carpenter's design, if Mr. Kimball's dates are correct. Inasmuch as the corner blocks are an integral part of the design of the center first floor room at Huntley, there can be no question that they were original. It is interesting to note that at Decatur House, as at Huntley and Arlington, corner blocks are used only in some rooms, and not uniformly throughout the house, as is common later.

Of course, Thomson Francis Mason could have had easy access to the works of Gibbs, Morris, Benjamin and others. George Mason IV had enough knowledge of architecture and design to employ William Buckland to design the interiors at Gunston Hall and his library was extensive. Mrs. Rowland, in speculating on what was in that library, notes that it was divided among his five sons, including T. F.'s father, and further notes that:

The editor of the "Spotswood Letters" notices the libraries, really extensive for the time, of the second William Byrd of "Westover," of Sir John Randolph of Williamsburg, and of John Mercer of "Marlboro," and numerous others nearly as large, among them that of George Mason of Gunston.[60]

Books might have given Mason an appreciation and knowledge of architecture and design, but it is highly unlikely that the design for Huntley derived from a book. In discussing the design of houses in this period architect Robert Mills noted in his "Autobiographical Notes" that:

The principle assumed and acted upon was that beauty is founded upon order, and that convenience and utility were constituent parts ... the author has made it a rule never to consult books when he had to design a building. His considerations were first, the object of the building; second, the means appropriated for its construction; third, the situation it was to occupy; these served as guides in forming the outlines of his plan. Books are useful guides to the student, but when he entered on the practice of a profession, he should lay them aside and only consult them upon doubtful points, or in matters of details or, as mere studies, not to copy buildings from.[61]

At Huntley the designer certainly considered convenience and utility, while keeping in mind "the object of the building ... the means appropriated for its construction" and "the situation it was to occupy."

Area Architects, Circa 1820

During the first quarter of the nineteenth century, Dr. William Thornton, Charles Bulfinch, Robert Mills, Benjamin Latrobe and George Hadfield were all designing buildings in the stylistic mode of Huntley. Mason would have been aware of Dr. Thornton's work at Tudor Place in Georgetown, completed about 1815, and at Woodlawn Plantation, near Huntley, completed about 1805. Though Thornton did not die until 1828, he was already an elderly man by 1820, and Tudor Place is the last house he is known to have designed.[62]

Mason would have been aware of Bulfinch's work from his visits to Boston, and Bulfinch arrived in this area in 1817. He immediately busied himself as Architect of the United States Capitol, however.[63] Robert Mills studied in Washington with Latrobe, and later designed buildings here, but he was not in Washington at the time Huntley was built.[64] Latrobe, who died in 1820, was at the height of his career and had ample commissions in the period of time from 1810-20. Hadfield, on the other hand, was available, needed work,[65] and had not yet begun his City Hall. Huntley would have provided not only suitable work, but a challenging site, and a suitable family for whom to work.

George Hadfield

Hadfield, a British subject, was born in Leghorn, Italy, about 1764.[66] His architectural training and collection of architectural prizes were outstanding when he arrived in this country in 1795 to superintend the construction of the United States Capitol. He, and his sister Maria Cosway, a painter, were both friends of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson championed Hadfield here, though his actual recommendation to the Capitol job was from John Trumbull, the American artist. Soon difficulties began with Dr. William Thornton, who had won the competition for design of the Capitol and Hadfield lost his job.

From the time of Hadfield's dismissal from the Capitol in 1798, until 1820, when he was busy with his magnum opus, the City Hall, the records are sketchy and incomplete. He elected to stay in this city rather than go to Philadelphia where the social and political centers were. This decision must have been made deliberately, with the prospect of designing many buildings in this growing metropolis. He was without a steady income during all this period, yet he was able to keep busy on many jobs that enabled him to stay alive.[67]

Hadfield was obviously not always happy with the commissions which came his way, however. On September 22, 1822, he wrote Jefferson:

... am much obliged to you Sir, for the wish you express to inform my Sister that I am in good health and doing well: the former, thanks to Providence, I enjoy; as to the latter, I cannot say much; there is here a stagnation in the building line, owing to the scarcity of money, that is very injurious to both architects and mechanics. I have for the two preceding seasons been occupied in the building of the City Hall....[68]

We know little of what Hadfield accomplished in Washington, though his obituary, in 1826, gives some leads:

It is a duty we owe to the founders of our city, when any of them are called from the scene of their former usefulness, to do honor to their memory, by recording with truth, whatever they have done in laying the foundations of our infant metropolis, or promoting its welfare. It is but doing justice to the dead; and it is to be hoped, when such men die, that it will excite the living to emulate them. Amongst this class may be placed the late Mr. GEORGE HADFIELD, Architect, who died at his residence in this city, on Sunday evening, the 5th instant, aged about 62 years....

The obituary notes that Mr. Hadfield never married, mentions his early training and prizes, his arrival in Washington to superintend the construction of the Capitol and the subsequent arguments. His accomplishments were summarized:

Amongst the works which will serve to perpetuate his memory in this city are the City Hall; the Public Offices, which were built from his design; Mr. Custis's house [Arlington House]; Com. Porter's; Mr. Way's Row, now occupied by Mr. Gunton and others; Heightman's Row, now occupied by Mr. Poor and others; Col. Taylor's, now Williamson's Hotel; the Mausoleum, built for the families of Van Ness and Burns; and the Branch Bank of the United States. It is only to be regretted that there are so few remains of his uncommon talents.[69]

There are "remains of his uncommon talents" which are not in that list. Hadfield is known, for example, to have provided plans and designs for the Marine Barracks in Washington.[70] There are also good reasons to believe that he designed Analostan, located on what is now called Theodore Roosevelt Island, for John Mason, Thomson Francis Mason's uncle.[71]

Similarities to the Work of Hadfield

Among the few known drawings of Hadfield is one labelled "A Country House—Geo. Hadfield—Exhibited Arc. designs at Royal acad. in 1780-82...."[72] The house is of three-part construction and has windows set into arched recessed panels. Arlington House (Custis-Lee Mansion) is of three-part construction and has windows set into arched recessed panels.[73] The City Hall in Washington, now the District of Columbia Court House, is of three-part construction, with connecting hyphens, and has windows set into arched recessed panels.[74] The same is true of the plan for Analostan, though one wing evidently was never constructed.

Huntley, too, is of three-part construction and though the windows are not set into arched recessed panels, they are set into the center of square recessed panels, which serve the same design function of catching and reflecting light and shadow. The recessed arch appears at Huntley in the root cellar superstructure, however, duplicating Hadfield's use in the structures mentioned above.

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Figure 26. Arlington House (Custis-Lee Mansion) showing portico designed by Hadfield. Photo courtesy National Park Service.

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Figure 27. Analostan, now demolished, formerly stood on Theodore Roosevelt Island. Possibly designed by Hadfield. Photo by Abbie Rowe. Courtesy National Park Service.

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Arlington House has a two story center section with one story wings, as does Huntley. It is possible that had Huntley been built on different terrain, it might have followed the more common "I" plan of Arlington House. Given the limited space on Huntley's hill, however, the "H" plan obviously made more usable space available on the site. The chimneys at Arlington, and those at Huntley, are placed in the same position in relation to the center structure and the wings; the wooden mantels in both houses have obvious stylistic similarities.

When Huntley is compared with Analostan another similarity shows up. The gable end at Analostan has a relatively shallow cornice, common in the period, outlining a pediment strikingly similar to the gable ends of the wings at Huntley. Located within the pediment at both houses is an elliptical ventilator.

The design for Huntley could easily have come from Hadfield. There were opportunities for T.F. Mason to have met him through Jefferson or through his uncle, General John Mason of Analostan.

George Washington Parke Custis of Arlington House and Thomson Mason of Hollin Hall were both sheep raisers and there was much rivalry between the two families in this field, including Mason entries which took prizes at Custis exhibitions and shows.[75] This offers, in addition to the day-to-day opportunities presented to Mason through his political and social standing, one more means whereby T.F. Mason might have learned of Hadfield, observed his work, met him, and contracted for design assistance in the construction of his country house.

In addition, Mason was a lawyer, who later became a justice of the peace and a judge. For several years before and after 1820, Hadfield was involved with the design and construction of the City Hall, which was to house the Courts of the District. Mason would have been aware of this and would probably have known Hadfield.

Certainly the design evidence of Huntley indicates the work of an architect. The structure is much too architectonic to have evolved and in many respects much too advanced for its day to have been designed by a local carpenter-builder. Perhaps at some future time we shall discover information which indicates precisely whose trained hand put all the pieces together in this highly satisfactory manner.

Until that time, the evidence strongly points to George Hadfield.

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Chapter 4 Notes

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