As the Presidency drew to a close in 1797, George Washington began to turn his attention to returning home to Mount Vernon and to furnishing his New Room. While in Philadelphia, Washington purchased a variety of fashionable goods in the neoclassical taste, a style inspired by archaeological findings in Pompeii and Herculaneum. When he returned to Mount Vernon, he furnished his New Room almost entirely with these newly purchased items and objects he brought back from the presidency. However, he did incorporate a few exceptional objects he had purchased much earlier.
James Allan, Pair of Candle Stands, Fredericksburg, Virginia, 1759. W-1/A-B.
This magnificent pair of candle stands is listed in an inventory of the New Room created after Washington’s death as “2 Candle Stands” valued at $40.00. The stands would have created an elaborate display with and provided light in a dining room or drawing room with a candelabra perched on top. These are likely the candle stands that George Washington purchased from Fredericksburg, Virginia cabinetmaker James Allan in December 1759, just after Washington’s marriage to wealthy widow, Martha Dandridge Custis. These elaborately carved candle stands are made of imported mahogany and would have fit nicely in Washington’s newly completed small dining room.
Society of Upholsterers’ Household Furniture in Genteel Taste (1760). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1929. 29.43, plate 1.
The candle stands are carved in the fashionable rococo style made popular by Thomas Chippendale in his popular book The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director, first published in London in 1754. The rococo style is characterized by fanciful naturalistic elements like those found in the leaves carved on the body of these objects as well as asymmetry. These candle stands are based on an illustration in Genteel Household Furniture published for the London Society of Upholsterers in 1760. The close relationship to this British design source demonstrates Washington’s desire to have the latest goods in the most fashionable taste.
Adam T. Erby, Assistant Curator
On May 13, 1785, William Fitzhugh, George Washington’s friend and colleague from the former House of Burgesses, sent to Mount Vernon a letter along with a joiner to finish up the New Room. The letter of introduction assured Washington that this man, Richard Boulton, would “Execute your work in an Elegant Manner at least equal to any in America.”
William Fitzhugh
Boulton, of Saint Mary’s County, Maryland, came highly recommended despite previous missteps—in fact, Fitzhugh had lately fired Boulton for neglecting his work and for “Excess of Drinking.” This misbehavior Fitzhugh blamed on Boulton’s recently deceased wife and his recently married daughter for insisting on entertaining too many guests, writing that had it not been for them, “He probably wou’d have gone on well with his work.” With them out of the picture, Fitzhugh believed Boulton would be a good candidate to finish the New Room.
Washington received Boulton and entered into a work agreement with him on May 21, 1785, to “finish the large room at the north end of the said Washingtons dwelling House (Mount Vernon) in a plain and elegant manner; either of Stucco, Wainscot, or partly of both” and to do other jobs including working on a greenhouse and adding a ceiling to Mount Vernon’s piazza. The agreement specified that Boulton would “be faithful and diligent at his business and is to allow for lost time and promises to be sober, & orderly, in the family.”
Richard Boulton and George Washington’s signatures
The agreement was signed by both men and witnessed by George Augustine Washington. Unfortunately, Boulton was never to return. On June 4, 1785, Washington received a letter from Boulton explaining that because of outstanding debts, he not only had to sell some of his tools, but he had to remain in his home state of Maryland, thus making it impossible to work on Mount Vernon. Washington did not accept these excuses, responding on June 24, “The reason which you assign for not coming, is futile & can have no weight with your creditors.” He additionally scolded Boulton, “I do not enter into agreements, but with an intention of fulfilling them; & I expect the same punctuality on the part of those with whom they are made.”
Upon hearing that Boulton had broken his agreement with Washington, William Fitzhugh quickly apologized for misinterpreting Boulton’s work ethic. “I am Extreamly Sorry that I recommended so Intemperate and Imprudent a Man to You,” he wrote to Washington. “His Conduct on the present Occasion has convinc’d me, that He was unworthy of Attention.”
Lynn Price, Historic Preservation & Collections
Going Lanphier was a house joiner and carpenter from Alexandria who George Washington hired to complete various projects at Mount Vernon in the 1750s and 1770s. Washington first enlisted Lanphier’s services in 1759 to construct a new staircase for the Mansion. Washington’s correspondence with Lanphier and others suggest this project was completed with minimal complications. Unfortunately, Lanphier became more challenging to work with during later construction projects.
Going Lanphier’s signature.
Washington’s position as commander-in-chief during the Revolutionary War prevented him from directly overseeing the affairs of his estate. To cope with his absence, Washington commissioned his distant cousin and plantation manager, Lund Washington, to supervise these projects. According to Lund, Going Lanphier was hired in 1773 to extend the southern end of the Mansion by adding a bedroom and a library to the upper and lower levels, respectively. (Today, we call these rooms the Washington or Master Bedchamber and the Study.) Lund’s letters to Washington during this period reveal the former experienced quite a few difficulties with the carpenter.
This drawing shows the planned locations for Washington’s new bedroom, library, and dining room on the north and south ends of the Mansion.
In addition to his work on the Mansion, Lanphier “promised to[…]immediately” fix a few broken spinning wheels at Lund’s request. The wheels were sent to Lanphier for repair in the early summer; however, on September 29, Lund reported that he had to send the wheels elsewhere because Lanphier now refused to make the necessary repairs. Two months later, Lund complained that whenever he attempted to discuss the status of the study, Lanphier “mouths & talks in such a way that I do not understand him.” Evidently, Lanphier’s descriptions were so full of vague excuses and technical jargon Lund was consistently unable to gauge the progress of the addition.
Two spinning wheels on view in the Spinning House at Mount Vernon.
Despite these difficulties, a shortage of skilled craftsman and the daunting task of finishing the New Room forced Lund to once again enlist Lanphier’s services. Lanphier’s unreliable nature made itself even more apparent during this project. In 1777, Lund credited Lanphier’s “man” with “3 months and 8 days” of steady work, while Lanphier himself only worked “16 Days” during this period. This deplorable work ethic evidently continued, for a year later Lund wrote, “Of all the worthless men living Lanphier is the greatest, no act or temptation of mine can prevail on him to come to work notwithstanding his repeated promises to do so.”
In an October 1773 letter to Washington, Lanphier requested the following building materials: “4370 feet of Inh & half plank for Weather Boarding, 880 Do. [dozen] of Inh & Quarter Do. for Dowall floor: Each plank to be 22 feet Long full, 1760 Do. of Do.__Do. for the South End having two floors, 500 Do. of two Inh Do. for Doors &c., 500 Do. of Inh & half Do. for Windows, — Do. of Inh Do. already provided”
Lanphier’s apparent obedience in 1759 and obvious inadequacy in later projects may be attributed to George Washington’s absence. In a letter to Brian Fairfax from July 4, 1774, Washington wrotem, “I think (perhaps it is fancy)” the construction of the Mansion’s additions “goes on better whilst I am present, than in my absence from the workmen.” The change in Lanphier’s professionalism suggests Washington was not at all fanciful—his presence truly did inspire compliance in his workmen.
Brittany Higgs, Intern, Historic Preservation & Collections
At Mount Vernon, we furnish the Mansion according to the inventory taken after George Washington’s death in 1799. But the furnishings during Washington’s life were anything but static. As Washington bought new items and received gifts from his many friends and admirers, he had to find places for them in his home. Often, older furnishings were relegated to private rooms or storage, as more stylish and treasured objects replaced them in the public spaces of the house—most notably, the New Room.
Thanks to your support, Mount Vernon placed 2nd in the Partners in Preservation campaign and was awarded $100,000 for the New Room restoration! Thank you for your votes, tweets, and instagram photos — we couldn’t have done it without you. Congratulations to our fellow historic site competitors and a big thank you to the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express for supporting preservation in the Washington, D. C., region.
There is much more on the restoration and history of the New Room to come, so stay tuned!
Today is the last day you can vote for Mount Vernon and help us win $100,000 for the New Room restoration. The competition ends at midnight and it’s going to be a close race. We need your vote!
Thank you to all of our Mount Vernon supporters and to the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express for hosting this competition — it’s a win for historic preservation no matter who takes home first place!
These two postcards of the New Room date from 1932 (above) and 1934 (below) and they document quite a change from the earlier postcards we’ve posted. Instead of the central table and relic cabinets, the room features a large carpet with the Great Seal of the United States, a Federal era sofa, and many assorted chairs. The candlestands are on either side of the Palladian window, rather than by the mantel. The new arrangement reflects the popularity of the colonial revival and regency revival in architecture and interior design that was ascendant during the 1920s and 1930s. Decorators like Nancy McClelland encouraged customers to decorate their homes with antique furniture from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The central rug (as opposed to bare floors or wall-to-wall carpeting), full, long curtains, and the variety of early American furniture in the New Room together put a twentieth-century spin on a neoclassical interior.
The vibrant colors in these postcards also stand out. Mount Vernon records from May of 1932 state: “The ‘New Room,’ in its exquisite pale green, is the one in which you will perceive the most pronounced change, the walls having been for many years buff colored.” We see this in the first postcard, but not the second, where the walls appear buff again below a green cove. It seems the second postcard’s creator took some artistic license with the details—the mantel is also not depicted, though the angle of the first postcard suggests it should have been (and it certainly was still in the room). There is no evidence the room was repainted so soon after and reverting to the older color.
Please vote for Mount Vernon and help the New Room win $100,000 for its restoration. The competition ends tomorrow, May 10 and you can vote daily!
Please vote for Mount Vernon and help the New Room win $100,000 for its restoration. The competition ends this Friday, May 10 and you can vote daily!
By 1784, improvements to Mount Vernon had been in process for over a decade. Like any weary home renovator, Washington was eager to complete work on his New Room as soon as possible. But a few items remained on his “to do” list, including locating a mantelpiece for the room.
On January 15, 1784, Washington wrote to his nephew Bushrod on the matter: “for the only room which remains unfinished I am not yet fixed in my own mind but believe I shall place a Marble one there.”
After writing to family and associates in search of a marble mantelpiece, Washington soon heard from Samuel Vaughan, an English émigré and supporter of the American cause. On February 5, 1784, Vaughan wrote to offer Washington the marble mantel from his estate, Wanstead, in Essex, England.
The marble mantelpiece sent to Washington by Samuel Vaughan.
