ARLINGTON HOUSE Historic Structures Report Voume 1

Arlington House (also referred to as the Robert E. Lee Memorial) is of the first order of significance under two themes. First, by a joint resolution of Congress (March 4, 1925) authorizing restoration of the Lee Mansion, Arlington House was established as a memorial to General Robert E. Lee, one of the great military leaders in American history. Second, under the subtheme study of "Architecture in 1971," the Advisory Board on National Parks, Historic Sites, Buildings, and Monuments found Arlington House to possess national significance as an outstanding and early example of the Greek Revival style in the United States.

The outstanding architectural feature of the house is the monumental pseudodipteral hexastyle Greek Doric pedimented portico on the east elevation that was constructed in 1817-18. This portico is dramatic, direct, and strongly romantic; it is the quintessence of the Greek Revival style in America. Attributed to the architect George Hadfield, it is the tremendous scale and mass of the portico, on its commanding elevation, that gives the mansion its outstanding distinction.

Arlington House was constructed by George Washington Parke Custis, who stretched the major work out over a 16 year period because of the shortage of funds. Intensive architectural and archeological study of the physical fabric of the north wing of the mansion in 1980-81 revealed evidence that demolished previously held theories on the stages of construction of the mansion. It is now believed that when Custis constructed the north wing (the first portion of his future mansion) in 1802, he did not have the final architectural plan for the entire house in hand. Constructed as a two-story brick house with a hip roof and without a cellar, the north wing had to be extensively remodelled, perhaps about 1811, to assume its present appearance as a one-story brick house over elevated basement.

It is thought that the south wing, erected in 1803-04 as a one-story brick house over elevated basement with a hip roof, has undergone few changes over the years, thus suggesting that Custis had George Hadfield's architectural plan in hand by 1803. Custis lived in these two wings until construction of the main block.

In 1817-18 Custis was finally able to fund the construction of the main or center house: a two-story brick structure over full basement, with a pedimented gable roof and giant portico on the east or front elevation having eight massive Doric columns. His shortage of money, however, may have kept him from fluting the pillars; the steps of the wide portico were built of wood instead of stone. The east (front), north, and south elevations of the mansion were covered with a hard stucco plaster that was scored to give the appearance of cut stone. The west (rear) elevation, which could not be seen from a distance, however, was left with the bricks exposed. Also, the largest room in the mansion, the white parlor (room 112) located on the south side of the center hall, was left in an unfinished state from 1818 to 1855, when Col. and Mrs. Robert E. Lee completed the room in Victorian style. The mansion with its two wings is 140 feet long.

Available evidence indicates that either before or after construction of the main block Custis constructed two brick loggias on stone foundations. Each extended along the full length of the west or rear elevations of the north and south wings. The loggias, with arched openings, were originally open structures. By circa 1845, however, the two loggias may have been enclosed. On the death of Custis in 1857, his daughter Mary, Col. Robert E. Lee's wife, inherited Arlington House and the couple continued making it their home from 1857 to 1861. In addition to finishing the great white parlor, the Lees also put a Victorian style mantel in the large room in the south wing, Mrs. R. E. Lee's morning room (Room 115), and redecorated the room. In 1858 Colonel Lee put a slate roof on the main house and gravel roofs on the two wings.