Mayhurst is an 1859

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

mansion in

Orange, Virginia Orange is a town and the county seat of Orange County, Virginia, United States. The population was 4,880 at the 2020 census, representing a 3.4% increase since the 2010 census. Orange is northeast of Charlottesville, southwest of Washington, ...

. It was built by the Willis family relatives of President

James Madison James Madison (June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison was popularly acclaimed as the ...

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

. 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 The Army of Northern Virginia was a field army of the Confederate States Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was also the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most often arrayed agains ...

was camped in Orange County, Lieutenant General

A. P. Hill Ambrose Powell Hill Jr. (November 9, 1825April 2, 1865) was a Confederate States Army, Confederate General officer, general who was killed in the American Civil War. He is usually referred to as A. P. Hill to differentiate him from Confederate ge ...

had his headquarters in the yard at Mayhurst. The

Mort Künstler Morton Künstler (August 28, 1927 – February 2, 2025) was an American artist known for his illustrative paintings of historical events, especially of the American Civil War. He was a child prodigy, who, with encouragement from his parents, bec ...

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 Hiram Bond was born May 10, 1838, in Farmersville, New York, Farmersville, Cattaraugus County, New York and died in Seattle March 29, 1906. He was a corporate lawyer, investment banker and an investor in various businesses including gold mining. ...

their son

Marshall Latham Bond Marshall Latham Bond was one of two brothers who were Jack London's landlords and among his employers during the autumn of 1897 and the spring of 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush. They were the owners of the dog that London fictionalized as Bu ...

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 A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downward to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope, with variants including tented roofs and others. Thus, a hipped roof has no gables or other vertical sides ...

. The roof is surmounted by two large chimneys and a central

belvedere Belvedere (from Italian, meaning "beautiful sight") may refer to: Places Australia *Belvedere, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region Africa * Belvedere (Casablanca), a neighborhood in Casablanca, Morocco * Belvedere, Harare, Zi ...

. This belvedere reflects the roof shape which surrounds it and completes the total pyramidal massing with an elaborate

finial A finial () 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 dome, spire, tower, roo ...

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

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

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 (transom window), often semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing (window), glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open Hand fan, fan. It is placed over another window or a doorway, ...

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 ...

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 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 ...

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 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 ...

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 ...

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 (; , also called an epistyle; ) is the lintel or beam, typically made of wood or stone, that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can also apply to all sides, including the vertical members, ...

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 The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

(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