The mansion is the centerpiece of Mount Vernon. It was originally built as a smaller 1.5 story home by George Washington’s father, Augustine Washington, in 1734. Twenty years later, George Washington took it over and embarked on a series of additions and renovations that resulted in the 11,000 square foot home you can visit today.
The home was built in the Palladian style, which focuses on symmetry. Ironically, the numerous additions resulted in a slightly asymmetrical house. The dome and front door do not align perfectly and the windows are not symmetrical. The exterior of the home was built using a technique called rustication in which wood siding is finished to resemble stone.
During our visit, the front of the home was covered by scaffolding. Preservation efforts are currently underway to strip and repaint the building. The building has been repainted numerous times during its 285 years and the older paint layers are failing. The current project will remove up to 28 layers of paint to strip it down to its bare wood, at which point repairs can be made to the structure and steps can be taken to further conserve the architectural elements. When all repairs are complete (estimated to be a 6 month project completing in October 2019), it will be repainted using the same rustication method that Washington used.
The back of the house was untouched by repairs at the time of our visit, although it is scheduled for the same repair work when the west elevation is complete.
The view of the Potomac River from the back side of the mansion is stunning.
Your ticket to Mount Vernon includes a timed entry to the house. You are given an assigned time and told to enter the line 30 minutes prior. I was so disappointed the day before when I bought my tickets online because the earliest tour time available was 1:05 pm. I was hoping to be on the road by then. Little did I know that the boys would be so engrossed in the whole experience that we would miss our tour time! We were off exploring another area and they did not want to stop what we were doing to go inside the house. I regret that we missed seeing the interior, but I do not regret that we followed the boys’ interests and excitement.