Green Spring Farm Part 5

[79] _Ibid._ The flock of Canada geese started from a pair that was attracted to one of the farm ponds, which in earlier times had been used to furnish ice for the farm. As the flock of geese grew, it ceased to migrate, and frequented the Straights' pond and nearby Lake Barcroft.

[80] _Who's Who in America, 1966-1967_, contains the following information on Mr. Straight: In 1943, he wrote _Make This the Last War_; in 1954, _Trial by Television_; in 1960, _Carrington_; and in 1963, _A Very Small Remnant_. In 1943, he also served as Vice President of the Fight for Freedom; and in 1946-1947 as Secretary of the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists.

[81] Michael and Belinda Straight, interview December 8, 1968. This visit occurred when Mr. Straight was actively engaged in editing and publis.h.i.+ng _The New Republic_ and had occasion, from time to time, for journalistic contacts in the Soviet Emba.s.sy. From one of these contacts the suggestion was made that a group of Soviet Russian journalists touring the United States might be interested in visiting Green Spring Farm.

[82] Fairfax County Division of Planning, August 1969.

[83] Fairfax County Tax Books, 1943, 1960. The 1968 evaluation, at 40 percent of market value, was $93,415, and the total tax was $4,016.85. In 1923, when the property consisted of 332 acres and was owned by J. M. Duncan, it was valued at $8,240, and the taxes were $20.60.

[84] Resident Engineer, Virginia Department of Highways, Fairfax, Virginia. August 1969.

ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION: THE MANSION HOUSE

GENERAL SETTING. Green Spring Farm is located in Mason Magisterial District, approximately one-eighth mile north of Little River Turnpike and one-eighth mile east of Braddock Road. Via the Little River Turnpike, the farm is approximately six miles west of Alexandria and approximately two miles east of Annandale.

The terrain in the vicinity of the farm is mainly flat, with some very gentle rolling areas. It is well watered, being crossed by Turkey c.o.c.k Run. During 1946-50, three ponds were dug in back of the house. They are spring-fed, and their runoff drains into Turkey c.o.c.k Run. With the original forest cover cleared off at least 200 years ago, the present cl.u.s.ters of pine and oak, and the incidence of hemlock, cherry, crabapple, and other flowering species, represent a reforestation several generations removed from the original, and, in other instances, the landscaping done by the Straights in the late 1940's.

HOUSE SITE. The mansion house faces south and is connected with the Little River Turnpike by a black-top (asphalt-surfaced) road which pa.s.ses on the west side of the house and runs north to Braddock Road.

Inside the post and rail fence, alongside this road, the driveway up to the house is lined with trees, and the yard in front of the house is open and flat. Between the lawn and the road, a line of cedars in the fence row serves as a screen.

The back (north side) of the house faces a semicircular open gra.s.s lawn, bordered with hedges which provide both a screen for the lawn and a background for several stone carvings and cement castings which decorate a lawn approximately 1,500 square feet in size. At the northeast corner of this open s.p.a.ce is located the log cabin; beyond the log cabin, approximately 110 feet in a northeasterly direction, is the barn, which is converted into living quarters.[85]

Northwest of the main house, facing on Green Spring Road, is the spring house. Originally built over a series of natural springs in order to have water for cooling dairy products, this stone house was converted into a small dwelling house by the Straights in 1942.

GENERAL ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN AND HISTORY. In its present condition, the mansion house at Green Spring Farm cannot be considered to represent any particular period of American architecture. The original core of the building ill.u.s.trates a design which was typical of the colonial era in Tidewater Virginia. This portion of the house is of brick construction, two stories plus attic and cellar, with the rooms in each end of the house separated by a center hallway. Large chimneys at each end of the house made possible heating by fireplaces in each room.

It seems probable that this structure formed the core of the mansion house when it was occupied by the Moss family (1770's to 1835). To this core, various outbuildings and dependencies were added; a separate cookhouse or kitchen annex to the main house was one of these related structures, as were the family's sanitary facilities. Clothes was.h.i.+ng, churning, candlemaking, and various other household tasks were also performed in separate buildings. No direct evidence of the appearance of the main house or the various related outbuildings has been discovered; some inferences about these matters may be drawn from the inventory of personal property sold from the farm at auction in 1835 and a drawing of the house on an 1840 survey (figure 2).

Photographs of the south side of the house show the building as it appeared in 1885 (figure 5). At this time, a one-story porch had been built across the entire length of the front. The entry into the house across this porch was open, but on each side of the front door the porch was enclosed, making small rooms approximately 9 by 12 feet in size. From each room a door opened out onto the porch. The porch was roofed with sheet metal, and carved wooden brackets were in the corners of the center section (figure 5). A sidewalk led from the entrance in the center of the ivy-covered front porch straight across the s.p.a.cious, shaded lawn.

Photographs in 1936 show the front porch removed but with clear signs of its recent presence showing in the whitewash on the front wall of the house (figure 7). At this time, the roof of the main house was sheet metal in place of the earlier use of s.h.i.+ngles. However, s.h.i.+ngles still const.i.tuted the roofing of the dependency on the east end of the house.

The 1885 photographs show a one-story brick addition on the east end of the house. This was a kitchen, built sometime after the main portion of the house but still probably in the first half of the nineteenth century. The notice of sale of the farm following Thomas Moss's death in 1835 speaks of "a Brick Dwelling, containing eight rooms, Brick Kitchen, Meat House, Servants' House, ..." and other farm and outbuildings.[86] Of all the buildings mentioned in this notice, the kitchen appears to be the most logical and appropriate use for this addition. Later occupants of the house (1880-1917) used this wing for a kitchen and describe it as not only the center for preparation of food but for numerous other household activities, such as candlemaking.[87]

The arrangement of rooms during the nineteenth century is not known with certainty. The 1839 reference to eight rooms suggests that as originally built the house had four rooms on each floor, with perhaps no effort to use the attic as living s.p.a.ce, at least until the time of Fountain Beattie who added dormers to the attic and used this top floor to help accommodate his large family. This inference is strengthened by the fact that prior to the 1940's the central core of the house was laid out in this manner.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 10. GREEN SPRING FARM MANSION HOUSE, Floor Plans, 1969]

The major renovation of the house in the early 1940's was planned and carried out by Walter Macomber and resulted in the addition of a wing on the west end of the central block (in which a new kitchen was installed), conversion of the old kitchen wing on the east end of the central core into a living room with a small sunporch attached, rearrangement of the stairways and central hallway, and certain other interior changes. This involved removal of substantial amounts of the original materials in the house and replacement by material considered to be suitable in terms of age and texture. These changes are reflected in the exterior appearance and interior room arrangement of the house at the present time.

Further structural changes were made in 1960. At this time it was discovered that the second floor was sagging because of the removal of bearing walls in 1942 when the first floor was converted from four rooms into two.[88] This situation was corrected by pouring concrete footings in the bas.e.m.e.nt and setting in them a series of steel columns. These columns ran up through the wall on the west side of the central hallway and were topped by a steel beam running the width of the house. The joists for the second floor were anch.o.r.ed in this new beam.[89]

At the same time this structural reinforcement was being added, several closets, cabinets, and bookcases were built into the rooms on the second floor and attic, making use of s.p.a.ce under the eaves.

The remodeling done in 1960 was designed and supervised by Keyes, Lethbridge & Condon, Was.h.i.+ngton architects.

At the present time, the exterior fabric appears to be sound and well maintained. On the interior, a certain amount of deterioration is evidenced in the looseness of the joints in the flooring and stairs and in the uneven settling of door frames in the original portion of the house. The grounds adjacent to the house are in good condition and appear to be well maintained.

TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION--EXTERIOR.

_Overall Dimensions._ Width: 78 feet by 25 feet in central section, and 20 feet in wings. Height: central section, two and one-half stories; wings, one and one-half stories; sunporch, one story.

_Foundations._ The central section of the house stands on brick foundations which are carried up through the bas.e.m.e.nt walls.

A brick wall extending upward to the second floor divides the bas.e.m.e.nt into two sections and served as part of the original foundations. In the bas.e.m.e.nt, a series of arches in this wall permitted pa.s.sage between the two sections. In 1960, the upper portions of this wall were found to have deteriorated to the point that it was necessary to pour concrete footings in the bas.e.m.e.nt and erect a series of steel columns up through the wall to relieve it from bearing the weight of the second-floor beams and floor joists.

The east wing (present living room, former kitchen) rests on brick foundations, with the present wooden flooring laid over the original cobblestone floor of the old kitchen. The west wing (present kitchen) rests on concrete footings and slab at grade.

_Wall Construction._ Walls are constructed of medium red brick (3 by 9 by 12 inches), using the following bonds: central block front--Flemish bond; central block rear--English bond; central block end walls--English bond; east wing--American or common bond, with seven courses of stretchers to each course of headers; west wing--American or common bond, with six courses of stretchers to each course of headers.

_Chimneys._ Interior brick chimneys are located in the center of the east and west ends of the central block. These chimneys have separate flues for four fireplaces (two each on the first and second floors) and measure 5 feet by 2 feet 8 inches. Three courses of brick are corbelled to make the capping of the chimneys.

The end walls of the east and west wings of the house also each have an interior chimney centered in the wall. The chimney in the east wing, measuring 3 feet by 1 foot 8 inches and having three courses of brick corbelled for a capping, was used for the fireplace in the old kitchen which occupied that part of the house prior to 1942.

_Doors and Doorways._ The front doorway is inset (1 foot 8 inches) in an entrance faced with white painted wooden panels. The entrance is framed by a plain triangular pediment and pilasters without decorations on either shafts or capitals. The front door is a six-panel door, designed to harmonize with the interior doors which are originals. Over the door is a four-light rectangular transom.

The rear entrance is a 6 by 8-foot portico, built up three steps from ground level. Along the sides of the portico are 3-foot railings, inside of which are wooden boxes which serve both as storage boxes and as seats. The portico roof is supported by wooden Doric columns set at its outer edges, and the front end of the roof is a plain triangular pediment. The rear doorway has a transom and door similar to the front doorway.

The kitchen door opens onto a 4 by 4-foot wooden porch with railing and three steps to ground level.

The sunporch door has interchangeable screen and gla.s.s panels for winter and summer use and opens on the front of the house at ground level.

_Windows and Shutters._ In the central block, the front doorway is flanked by French windows, with 12-over-9 lights in double-hung wooden sash. The rear windows on the first floor are 9-over-9 lights in double-hung wooden sash. Windows on the second floor front and rear sides are 6-over-6 lights in double-hung wooden sash, as are the dormer windows and gable end windows. The windows on the first and second floors of the central block have 2-foot 10-inch wooden sills and full-length louvered shutters hung on pintles (two on each side of the window frame). Window frames, sills, and muntins are painted dark green.

In the east and west wings of the house, the front windows are 6-over-6 lights in double-hung wooden sash. The rear window in the east wing (living room) has a dead-light picture window (6 by 4 feet) flanked by windows with 6-over-9 lights in double-hung wooden sash.

Window frames, sills, and muntins are white, and full-length wooden shutters are dark green.

In the brickwork of the house, flat arches have been laid over all of the windows on the first floor, except over the windows on the rear of the central block.

The sunporch on the east end of the house is of frame construction and has nine windows (2-1/2 by 5 feet) on three sides.

_Roof._ Photographs taken about 1900 show the house with an enclosed porch across the front and a sheet metal roof on the porch. In contrast, the central block of the house and the kitchen (east) wing have s.h.i.+ngled roofs (figure 5). Photographs in 1936 show the central portion of the house with a sheet metal roof (figure 7). In 1942, the roofing on all parts of the house was replaced with specially made concrete s.h.i.+ngles, which are still in place.[90]

The roof is a simple medium-pitched roof with plain gable ends.

Interior chimneys are centered in each end of the center section and in the east end of the living room (former kitchen) wing.

Full-length copper gutters are incorporated into the eaves and project approximately six inches above and beyond the cornice.

Cornices on the front and rear of the center section of the house are composed of dentils, running approximately three segments per foot.

Identical plain wooden cornices are used on the front and rear of the two wings of the house.

Each wing has one dormer centered in the front and two on the rear sides of the roof. The center section of the house has three dormers on the front side of the roof. All dormers have a single window, consisting of 6-over-6 lights, set vertically in the front face. All dormers have beaded s.h.i.+p-lap siding laid parallel to the pitched roof.