Buena Vista is a historic

plantation house A plantation house is the main house of a plantation, often a substantial farmhouse, which often serves as a symbol for the plantation as a whole. Plantation houses in the Southern United States and in other areas are known as quite grand and ...

located in

Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It lies in Southwest Virginia, along the Roanoke River, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Blue Ridge range of the greater Appalachian Mountains. Roanok ...

. It was built about 1840, and is a two-story, brick

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

style dwelling with a shallow hipped roof and two-story, three-bay wing. The front facade features a massive two-story diastyle Greek

Doric order The Doric order is one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of t ...

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

. Buena Vista was built for

George Plater Tayloe George Plater Tayloe ( October 15, 1804 – Apr 18, 1897) was a Virginia businessman, soldier, and legislator who also served as one of the original trustees of Hollins University. Early life and education.e George Tayloe was born October 15, 18 ...

and his wife, Mary (Langhorne) Tayloe. George was the son of

John Tayloe III Col. John Tayloe III (September 2, 1770March 23, 1828), of Richmond County, Virginia, was the premier Virginia planter and scion of the tidewater gentry. Although his father and grandfather had served on the Virginia governor's council and we ...

and Anne Ogle Tayloe of the noted

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

Mount Airy in Richmond County and who built

The Octagon House The Octagon House, also known as the Colonel John Tayloe III House, is a house located at 1799 New York Avenue, Northwest in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was built in 1799 for John Tayloe III, the wealthiest planter in ...

Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

The property was acquired by the City of Roanoke in 1937, and was used as a city park and recreation center. an
''Accompanying photo''
/ref> It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1974.

References

Plantation houses in Virginia Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Greek Revival houses in Virginia Houses completed in 1840 Houses in Roanoke, Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Roanoke, Virginia Tayloe family (Virginia) Tayloe family residences Brick buildings and structures in Virginia {{RoanokeCityVA-NRHP-stub