Mayhurst is an 1859 Italianate mansion in Orange, Virginia. It was built by the Willis family relatives of President James Madison as the plantation house for an estate comprising of fields, pastures and forest. It was a scene of action in the Civil War. It is currently operated as an Inn.

History

Mayhurst was completed in 1860 by Colonel John Willis, a great-nephew of President James Madison. Colonel Willis acquired Mayhurst, then and during his lifetime known as Howard Place, from the estate of Charles P. Howard in 1856. During the winter of 1863-64 when the Army of Northern Virginia was camped in Orange County, Lieutenant General

A. P. Hill Ambrose Powell Hill Jr. (November 9, 1825April 2, 1865) was a Confederate general who was killed in the American Civil War. He is usually referred to as A. P. Hill to differentiate him from another, unrelated Confederate general, Daniel Harvey Hi ...

had his headquarters in the yard at Mayhurst. The Mort Künstler painting "Tender is the Heart" is set at Mayhurst. During Reconstruction from 1866 until 1870 the house was owned by New Yorker Latham Higgins. It was occupied by the family of Higgins' sister Laura Ann Higgins Bond and Federal Judge Hiram Bond their son Marshall Latham Bond was born there.

Architecture

Mayhurst is a frame two-story structure set on an exposed brick basement with an attic level lighted by small windows in the eaves and circular windows placed in each of the four cross-gables of the hipped roof. The roof is surmounted by two large chimneys and a central belvedere. This belvedere reflects the roof shape which surrounds it and completes the total pyramidal massing with an elaborate

finial A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a d ...

. The entire exterior wall surface above the brick basement is covered by wooden drop siding cut to resemble

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

stonework. The deep, overhanging eaves are emphasized by the placing of oversized paired brackets, with their undulating curves and pendants, around the entire roofline. The three-bay main facade (north) features a central entrance porch with an elliptical-arched

fanlight A fanlight is a form of lunette window, often semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open fan. It is placed over another window or a doorway, and is sometimes hinged to a transom. Th ...

and sidelights framing the double doors. On the second level, twin-arched windows which open to the

balustrade A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...

d porch roof visually support the circular window above, set in the cross-gable. At either side of the central porch and window bay on the first level are also twin-arched windows with hood molds and shallow balconies. On the second level of the two end bays are three-sectioned windows in the Palladian motif. The east and west facades are similar, both being four bays wide and having arched windows. On the east front, however, a five-sectioned oriel bay was placed on the first story which is partially blocked by a frame wing added circa 1912. The rear (south) facade has been partially obscured by shallow wings and a sleeping porch. On the interior, the broad central hall is divided at midpoint by a graceful elliptical arch which rests at either side on piers alluding to the Doric order in detail. The stair which ascends along the east wall of the hall and curves at the beginning and end of each flight, develops exceptional rhythm of design due to the repetition of the octagonal-shaped and turned

baluster A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its cons ...

s, two to a tread. In addition, the scrolled, uncarved brackets on the step ends and the fascia board on the landings increase the activity of the design, making the stairway the finest single piece of woodwork in the house. Two rooms flank the hall on both sides and offer a calm contrast to the stair by featuring broad, flat window and door framings as well as black marble mantels with arched openings and subtle curving lines in the shelf. The southeast room has been partitioned into several smaller rooms, including a kitchen. Although most doors have a pair of small rectangular panels below the lock rail with two tall ones above, variations occur with the lower panels being octagonal while the upper panels have arched tops. An old structure to the rear appears to date from the first quarter of the nineteenth century due to some remaining

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; from it, architrave "chief beam", also called an epistyle; from Greek ἐπίστυλον ''epistylon'' "door frame") is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can ...

door framings and doors, the brick noggin walls, and the 6'-10" wide fireplaces on both ends of the two-story, hipped roof building. This house is believed to be the original Howard dwelling.Staff, Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission (August 22, 1969).
National Register of Historic Places Nomination: Mayhurst / Howard Place
. Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Retrieved on 2008-11-29.

References

External links

Howard Place, U.S. Route 15, Montpelier Station, Orange County, VA
at the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) {{National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Houses completed in 1859 Italianate architecture in Virginia Houses in Orange County, Virginia Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Orange County, Virginia Historic American Buildings Survey in Virginia