ARLINGTON HOUSE Historic Structures Report Phase II

There are a number of conventions which will be used in the following paper for expediency and convenience.

Orientation is found by remembering that the famous portico of the house faces east. The wings of the house will be known as the north wing and the south wing and that portion built between the wings c. 1817-1819 will be called the main block. Each wing is adjoined on the west by a loggia, now enclosed. The latter are connected to the main block by two small additions known as the north and south connecting flankers.

All spaces within the house have been given a numerical designation which will appear on all drawings as well as in the verbal descriptions. Where introduced in this report, all spaces will initially receive their traditional name as well as number; in all cases afterward, however, they will be referred to by number only. All windows and doors which swing into the space in question will have a numerical designation which will incorporate the number of the spaces in which they are located.

The term "series" will be used in reference to the layers of plaster (brown coats and white skim finish coat) which make up a single finish for one time period. In many instances in the oldest part of the house there will be two, and sometimes three, complete series added one atop the other. A single skim coat can be referred to as a series if it is from a different time period than the hacked skim coat it covers.

The first "restoration" of Arlington House, carried out by the United States Army between the Congressional mandate of 1925, which established the house as the Robert E. Lee National Memorial and the National Park Service acquisition of the resource in 1933, will be referred to as the War Department restoration.

In the space by space description of Existing Conditions at the Arlington House, some information initially presented in the Phase I report Structural Data (September 1979) will be reiterated so that a complete picture including all areas of concern will be located in a single document.

The Existing Conditions section (Chapter IV) will include a detailed description, and consequent documentation, of work carried out by the National Park Service from October 1979 to August 1981 as well a description of work performed at other times.

We wish to thank all concerned for their patience during the many months this report has been in preparation. Special thanks must go to Ann Fuqua, Agnes Mullins, and the entire Arlington House staff and volunteers for their kind indulgence during the many phases of our often disruptive work. Unencumbered communication among the National Capital Region Office, George Washington Memorial Parkway Administration, and the Denver Service Center established an atmosphere of cooperation within which many varied and complicated tasks were performed. It can be said, with very little hesitation, that this climate of mutual cooperation has resulted in substantial progress toward a more orderly preservation process at Arlington House.