Gunston Hall, also known as Franklin Hall, is a historic estate and a national

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

located at

Biltmore Forest Biltmore Forest is a town in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 1,343 in 2010. It is part of the Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area. Biltmore Forest is the second-wealthiest town in North Carolina by per capita ...

Buncombe County, North Carolina Buncombe County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is classified within Western North Carolina. The 2020 census reported the population was 269,452. Its county seat is Asheville. Buncombe County is part of the Asheville ...

. The district encompasses five contributing buildings, one contributing site, and two contributing structures. The main house was designed by architect

Waddy Butler Wood Waddy Butler Wood (1869 – January 25, 1944) was a prominent American architect of the early 20th century and resident of Washington, D.C. Although Wood designed and remodeled numerous private residences, his reputation rested primarily o ...

and built in 1923. It is a five-part

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archi ...

style dwelling consisting of a -story main block flanked by hyphens and -story wings. The grounds were designed by noted landscape architects

Chauncey Beadle Chauncey Delos Beadle (August 5, 1866 in St. Catharines, Ontario – 1950) was a Canadian-born botanist and horticulturist active in the southern United States. He was educated in horticulture at Ontario Agricultural College (1884) and Cornell U ...

and Lola Anderson Dennis. Other contributing elements are the Grounds and Garden (1920-c. 1955), the Breezeway (c. 1950), Gazebo (c. 1955), Tool Shed/Potting Shed (c. 1951), Greenhouse (c. 1954), Garden Shed (c. 1951), and Entrance Piers and Gates (1923). The estate was built by Dr. William Beverley Mason, a great-great grandson of

George Mason George Mason (October 7, 1792) was an American planter, politician, Founding Father, and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, one of the three delegates present who refused to sign the Constitution. His writings, including s ...

, who built

Gunston Hall Gunston Hall is an 18th-century Georgian architecture, Georgian Plantation house in the Southern United States, mansion near the Potomac River in Mason Neck, Virginia, Mason Neck, Virginia, United States. Built between 1755 and 1759 as the m ...

(1759). It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1991.

References

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Colonial Revival architecture in North Carolina Houses completed in 1923 Houses in Buncombe County, North Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Buncombe County, North Carolina Mason family residences {{BuncombeCountyNC-NRHP-stub