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time reinhard deputy director
for architecture here at George
Washington's Mount Vernon and
we're standing here in front of
the mansion on the east long
george washington thomas really
one of the most iconic and well
recognized buildings in the
world but in some ways it was a
rather a typical Gentry home for
eighteen central Virginia
whereas George Washington's
peers in his class were building
large brick homes Washington
chose to build a large frame
home built entirely of wood
except for the chimneys and
foundation and the reason why
you probably did this was that
he inherited the very core of
Mount Vernon from his brother
who inherited it from his father
and his father Augusta in
washington who built the
original center section the
house in 1735 Lawrence inherited
that house and expanded it and
then when George Washington
inherited that house from a step
brother Lawrence he went ahead
and increase the size of the
house and the 17 fifties and
then went on to build it even
larger in the 17 seventies so
it's probably his desire to
preserve the very core of his
family's dwelling that inspired
him to keep it a frame house and
not move into creating a large
brick house like its peers as
you mentioned earlier Mount
Vernon has actually made of wood
but washington chose protect the
appearance of stone and he he
accomplished this by using a
technique known as rustic Asian
the wooden siding boards are cut
to appear that they are stone
blocks from a distance is very
convincing up close he carried
off an illusion even further by
using a technique known as sand
casting while the paint on the
wooden boards are still wet sand
is thrown at it sticks to it so
that when you're up close until
you're actually touching it
really has the appearance that
the house is made out of stone
this is technically probably was
exposed to on a trip to New
England in the mid 17th fifties
because when he comes back
trip he enlarges Mount Vernon
for the first time and he uses
this technique of replication on
the house we're standing on the
circle on the west side of the
mansion the matches executed in
the Georgian style of
architecture which was the
prevalent architectural style of
the 18th century in america
the Georgian architecture
emphasizes symmetry on the
exterior of a building and when
Washington did his design
drawing for the last expansion
campaign that he undertook in
the mid 17th seventies he drew
Mount Vernon that was completely
symmetrical but if you look over
my shoulder
you'll see that we have anything
but a symmetrical Mount Vernon
the center of the front door is
not in alignment with the
pediment nor with the cupola
which has shifted several feet
to the south
one of the reasons why in
practice Mount Vernon didn't
turn out to meet Washington's
desire was that the location of
the stair necessitated the shift
of the door to the north but
Washington did value symmetry to
such a large extent that he went
to the time and labor and
expense to create two false
windows in the northern Bay
which is where the north the new
room is the new room is a one
and a half storey room on the
interior fitted into a two-story
section of the house so those
windows are actually open onto
dead space between them
third floor and the ceiling of
the new room but they have
working sash with glass and
their boarded-up from the inside
so this is a real practical
expression of a desire to get
all the characteristics which
were key to the architectural
style that Washington executed
the match the fact that Mount
Vernon is a wood-frame structure
is not the only thing that makes
it unusual for a Virginia Gentry
house the house incorporates
several features that in
themselves are unusual or even a
unique and it's it's important
to remember that Washington
didn't hire an architect to
design his house he himself was
the architect he worked directly
with the builders and the
craftsmen who executed it he
picked the designs and he
designed all of the iconic
features of the house the cupola
off the center of the roof of
the house
the long Piazza which unifies
the front of the house and the
pediment a lot on the west front
of the house
these are all things that
Washington himself incorporated
into his home but just as he was
a man of vision he was always a
matter of practicality as well
so each of these feature serves
a very practical purpose in the
overall functioning of the house
the cupola serves as a
ventilator when the windows of
the cupola were opened and the
wood the hot air which would
rise up through the staircase of
the house would exit and cooler
air would be pulled in in
through the windows of the lower
floors the Piazza of course
crude gave shape to the east
side of the house but it also
gave a great place to enjoy the
potomac Vista which Washington
love so much
the pediment on the west front
serves as a dormer and creates a
large storage closet up on the
third floor so as always with
everything Washington did well
thought out very practical but
also visionary