Architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

John Ariss (sometimes spelled Ayres) (1725–1799) was born in

Westmoreland County, Virginia Westmoreland County is a county located in the Northern Neck of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population sits at 18,477. Its county seat is Montross. History As originally established by the Virginia colony's ...

to a family long settled in the Old Dominion. Two of his works have been classified as

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

s. A rare surviving, documented example of his work is Traveller's Rest in

Kearneysville, West Virginia Kearneysville is an unincorporated community in Jefferson and Berkeley Counties, in the U.S. state of West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle in the lower Shenandoah Valley The Shenandoah Valley () is a geographic valley and cultural region o ...

, which he designed as a farmstead home for

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

Horatio Gates Horatio Lloyd Gates (July 26, 1727April 10, 1806) was a British-born American army officer who served as a general in the Continental Army during the early years of the Revolutionary War. He took credit for the American victory in the Battles ...

. He is also believed to have designed the

Neo-Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

estate Mount Airy, located in

Richmond County, Virginia Richmond County is a county located on the Northern Neck in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population sits at 8,923. Its county seat is Warsaw. The rural county should not be confused with the large city and state capit ...

on Virginia's

Northern Neck The Northern Neck is the northernmost of three peninsulas (traditionally called "necks" in Virginia) on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay in the Virginia, Commonwealth of Virginia (along with the Middle Peninsula and the Virginia Peninsula ...

. Ariss was born in Westmoreland County in 1725, but by 1743 his father was dead and Ariss apparently chose his brother Spencer Ariss as his guardian. Subsequently, Ariss may have been sent to England for schooling because his return from England is noted in 1751. In 1755, Ariss moved to nearby Richmond County, and in 1767 he moved, this time to Fauquier County. Ariss was a longtime friend of General

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

, to whom he rented his home. Some also believe that Ariss had a role in designing the Washington home at

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...

.Architecture and Town Planning in Colonial North America, James D. Kornwolf, Georgiana Wallis Kornwolf, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2002
/ref> Mount Airy HABS Color

The relationship between the two families was of long standing: Ariss was the great-grandson of Col.

Nicholas Spencer Colonel Nicholas Spencer, Jr. (1633–1689) was a merchant, planter and politician in colonial Virginia. Born in Cople, Bedfordshire, Spencer migrated to the Westmoreland County, Virginia, where he became a planter and which he represented i ...

of Cople Parish, Westmoreland, who had patented the

estate with his friend Lt. Col.

John Washington John Washington (1633–1677) was an English merchant who emigrated across the Atlantic Ocean and became a planter, soldier and politician in colonial Virginia. In addition to leading the local militia, and running his own plantations, Washin ...

. A number of Ariss's works are listed on the U.S.

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 ...

(NRHP).

Works

* Elmwood (built 1774), SW of jct. of Rtes. 640 and U.S. 17

Loretto, VA Loretto is an unincorporated community in Essex County, in the U.S. state of Virginia. Brooke's Bank, Elmwood, Port Micou, Vauter's Church, and Wheatland are listed on the National Register of Historic Places The National Register of ...

, NRHP-listed * Fairfield, E of jct. of Rtes. 340 and 610

Berryville, VA Berryville is an incorporated town in and the county seat of Clarke County, Virginia, United States. The population was 4,185 at the 2010 census, up from 2,963 at the 2000 census. History Berryville was founded at the intersection of the Winch ...

, NRHP-listed *

Lamb's Creek Church Lamb's Navy Rum is a sugar-cane based Caribbean rum popular in the UK and Canada. In 1849, 22-year-old Londoner Alfred Lamb, son of wine and spirits merchant William Lamb, blended 18 different rums from Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad to pr ...

, VA 607 Sealston, VA, NRHP-listed * Little England, E of Gloucester on VA 672

Gloucester, VA Gloucester Courthouse is a census-designated place (CDP) in and the county seat of Gloucester County, Virginia, United States. The population was 2,951 at the 2010 census. History The Gloucester County Courthouse Square Historic District, Glouc ...

, NRHP-listed *

Little Fork Church Little Fork Church stands on a low knoll to the east of State Route 229 nine miles north of Culpeper, Virginia in a small grove of trees that enhances its naturally pastoral setting. The name Little Fork is taken from the junction of th ...

, jct. of Rtes. 624 and 726 Rixeyville, VA, NRHP-listed *

Menokin Menokin, also known as Francis Lightfoot Lee House, was the plantation of Francis Lightfoot Lee near Warsaw, Virginia, built for him by his wife's father, John Tayloe II, of nearby Mount Airy. Lee, a Founding Father, was a signer of the United ...

, NW of jct. of Rtes. 690 and 621

Warsaw, VA Warsaw is an incorporated Town in and the County Seat of Richmond County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,637 at the 2020 census and is estimated to be 2,281 as of 2022. History The original name of the Town was Richmond Courthou ...

, NRHP-listed * Mount Airy, W of Warsaw on U.S. 360

, NRHP-listed *

Harewood (West Virginia) Harewood is one of several houses in the vicinity of Charles Town, West Virginia built for members of the Washington family. Description The house was designed by John Ariss for Samuel Washington in 1770, using a center-hall, single-pile plan ...

, designed in 1770 for

Samuel Washington Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bi ...

, NRHP-listed

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ariss, John 1725 births 1799 deaths People from Westmoreland County, Virginia Virginia colonial people 18th-century American architects

Works

See also

References