Custis Lee Mansion 5

Custis Lee Mansion 5

ARLINGTON BECOMES FAMOUS AS THE FORMER HOME OF GENERAL LEE. Originally

“Arlington House” had been famous for its associations with George

Washington; but after the Civil War it became even more widely known as

the former home of General Lee. Though its rooms were empty, thousands

from all over the country came to see it each year because of the

universal admiration for its former master. It was in response to this

sentiment that Representative Louis C. Cramton, of Michigan, sponsored

the legislation passed by Congress in 1925 which authorized the

restoration of the mansion as a national memorial.

 

 

RESTORATION OF THE MANSION. The project of restoring and refurnishing

the mansion was begun by the War Department in 1928. Structural changes

made since 1861 were removed and the house refurnished as nearly as

possible as when occupied by the Lee and Custis families. The original

furnishings having long since been scattered or lost, few could be

returned to their old setting, but copies were made of furniture and

portraits known to have been at Arlington and pieces appropriate to the

period procured. By 1933, when the mansion was transferred to the

National Park Service of the Department of the Interior, the major

portion of the work had been finished. However, the work of restoring

the mansion to its original condition is a continuing process, as

structural changes based on historical research are made and more of the

original furnishings are identified and acquired.

 

[Illustration: _Robert E. Lee in 1869 when President of Washington

College, Lexington, Va._ From the Brady photograph, U. S. Army

Signal Corps.]

 

 

 

 

_Guide to the House and Grounds_

 

 

THE OLD ARLINGTON ESTATE. Arlington was but one of several estates

totaling more than 15,000 acres owned by George Washington Parke Custis,

father-in-law of General Lee. Since the former’s income was largely

derived from two large farms on the Pamunkey River in New Kent County,

Va., he kept Arlington mainly as a gentleman’s country estate after the

English fashion. The greater part of Arlington was taken up by “the

Park,” a virgin woodland of ancient oaks and beautiful groves of walnut,

chestnut, and elm trees, extending from the Georgetown and Alexandria

Road at the foot of the hill clear to the western edge of the estate.

 

On the level land lying between the road and Potomac River was “the

Farm,” consisting of an orchard and several large cultivated fields and

pastures. Here was grown most of the grain and vegetables required by

the Arlington household and the large number of slaves, the surplus

being sold in the Washington markets. In the southeast corner of the

farm was the Arlington landing, where the barge which hauled produce to

market was kept, as well as the schooner _Lady of the Lake_, used to

carry goods to and from the distant farms. Here also docked the

steamboats _Arlington Belle_ and the _G. W. P. Custis_, which annually

ferried thousands from the city to the famed Arlington Spring, for half

a century a favorite picnic spot for Georgetown and Washington

residents. For their convenience the hospitable owner erected pavilions

for dining and dancing, requiring only that no liquor be used. Custis

considered himself primarily a farmer, and spent most of each day riding

or walking about the estate supervising the work being done. After he

died in 1857 and the management of the estate was taken over by Col.

Robert E. Lee, the area under cultivation was considerably enlarged.

 

Arlington originally had been part of a tract of 6,000 acres granted in

1669 by Governor William Berkeley of Virginia to a ship’s captain, named

Robert Howsing, in payment for transporting settlers to the colony.

Howsing soon sold his grant to John Alexander, after whom Alexandria,

Va., is named, reportedly for six hogsheads of tobacco. The land

remained in the Alexander family until 1778, when John Parke Custis

bought 1,100 acres from Gerard Alexander with the intention of

establishing a family seat. He died, however, before he had done

anything with the property, whereupon it passed to his son, George

Washington Parke Custis, who developed it as described.

 

 

THE MANSION. For all its imposing appearance when seen at a distance,

the real size of the mansion is not apparent until seen close at hand.

The central part of the building is 2 stories high, 60 feet wide, and 40

feet deep. One-story wings, each 40 feet long and 25 feet wide, extend

to the north and south, making the length of the entire building 140

feet. In the rear are still lower wings for service and a conservatory.

 

[Illustration: _“Arlington House” from a sketch made before 1861,

though not published until 1875._]

 

Although the wings with their tall recessed windows and balustrade are

quite pleasing, the magnificent portico is the salient architectural

feature of the mansion, one of the earliest and best-known examples of

Greek Doric porticos in America. This extends 25 feet from the front of

the house and has 8 columns 23 feet high and somewhat over 5 feet thick

at the base. Early authorities differ as to whether the portico was

derived from the smaller, well-proportioned Greek temple at Athens known

as the Theseum, or the larger, more imposing temple of Neptune at

Paestum, Italy. There is no doubt, however, as to the effectiveness of

the architectural style chosen, for no other would have had the strength

and massiveness necessary to make the building impressive when viewed

from across the river. Yet for all its simplicity and solidity, the

proportions of the mansion are so refined as to make it an outstanding

example of Greek Classic Revival architecture of the early nineteenth

century.

 

The building is of the most solid construction throughout. All the walls

and most of the foundations are of brick, as are the columns of the

portico. All of the brickwork exposed to the weather is protected by

hard stucco plaster scored with lines in imitation of cut stone. Joists,

studs, and rafters are of hewn timber and are neatly mortised together

or pinned with wooden pegs, scarcely any nails being used. Doors,

cornices, and other woodwork are of pine. The main roof is supported by

great barnlike trusses which span the entire width of the center section

and originally was covered with wooden shingles, now replaced by slate.

At one time the portico columns were painted to look like marble, but

later were made white for better contrast with the warm buff or ochre

color of the remainder of the house. Well constructed to begin with, the

deterioration inevitable in any old building was entirely corrected when

the War Department restored the building. Careful maintenance now

assures a long and useful future for the Custis-Lee Mansion.

 

 

THE CONSERVATORY. Because flowers were important in the life of the

Arlington household, it is most appropriate that present-day visitors

enter the mansion through the conservatory. Both Mrs. Lee and her

mother, Mrs. Custis, were devoted to their gardens and used flowers for

decorations throughout the house. Called the “conservatory,” or

“greenhouse,” and sometimes the “camellia house,” by those who lived

there, this was the room in which they grew their favorite flowers and

plants during the winter months or started young ones for transplanting

outdoors. The floor of the conservatory has been restored, but the

woodwork and most of the windows are original.

 

[Illustration: _The conservatory._]

 

 

THE OFFICE AND STUDY. The management of a large estate like Arlington

required an office where business could be transacted and records kept,

and this long, narrow room was used as such by both Mr. Custis and

Colonel Lee. Here the former worked on his literary efforts and carried

on an extensive correspondence concerning agricultural matters and the

life of General Washington. In his old age Mr. Custis also used it as

his “painting room,” for in 1852 he wrote to a fellow artist: “I have an

excellent studio fitted up in the South wing of the House, with a first

rate light, ... a stove & everything comfortable.”

 

[Illustration: MEASURED DRAWINGS OF THE MANSION]

 

[Illustration: _The office and study._]

 

The desk in the corner was used by Lee during the years 1848 to 1852,

while supervising the construction of Fort Carroll, near Baltimore, Md.

Also of interest is his traveling chess set and the plain pine stand

which Mrs. Lee gave to her personal maid, Selina Gray, whose descendants

returned it to the house.

 

 

THE DINING ROOM. “The House will be a very showy handsome building when

completed,” wrote a lady visiting Arlington in 1804. “The room we were

in was 24 feet square & 18 feet high,” she continued. No doubt she was

describing the present dining room, for here the Custises entertained

their numerous guests before the large central section of the house was

built. Later, Mr. Custis used it as a studio, and after his wife’s

death, in 1853, it became Mrs. Lee’s “morning room,” where she answered

her mail and managed the affairs of her household. Here Mrs. Lee was

engaged in copying a portrait of her infant grandson when, in May 1861,

she was informed that the Federal Army was soon to occupy Arlington and

that she must leave at once.

 

The dining room has been restored to its earliest use. Most of the

woodwork and windows are original, while the molding, plaster, and the

beautiful door to the study are entirely so. An interesting

architectural feature is the great semicircular arch at the north end of

the room, reminiscent of the villas Architect George Hadfield saw in

Italy during the years he studied there.

 

 

THE DRAWING ROOM. The drawing room remained unfinished for many years,

not even being plastered, probably because Mr. Custis lacked the

necessary funds. During these years it was known as the “big room” and

in it were stored old furniture and the finished canvasses of Mr.

Custis. On rainy days the Lee children often used it as a playroom. When

Colonel Lee went to Texas, in 1855, he left instructions for its

“renovation”—plastering the walls, installing a crystal chandelier, and

painting the walls and woodwork. He also ordered marble mantels for the

fireplaces. Mrs. Lee supervised the progress of the work in her

husband’s absence, and the result must have been most pleasing, for a

young lady who saw it in 1856 describes it as “a beautiful & noble

drawing room, very handsomely furnished and hung too with paintings.”

 

[Illustration: _The dining room._]

 

The most valuable paintings were taken away by Mrs. Lee in 1861, but

copies have been made for the restoration of this room. The sofa is

original, as is the music cabinet near the piano. The woodwork and walls

are finished off as Colonel Lee had them done in 1855.

 

 

THE HALL. A long hall extending from the front to the back was a common

feature of Virginia houses of the period, because of the cooling draft

of air it provided during hot weather. For this reason it was usually

furnished with sofas and chairs and used as a summer parlor. The Lees

and Custises would sit and converse here on warm summer evenings, or

perhaps read the latest English novel aloud to each other. “The puss has

appropriated the sofa in the parlor to himself, while I occupy that in

the hall,” Mr. Custis observed humorously in a letter to his wife in 1831.