Existing comment:
The Gentleman's Estate:
After the Revolutionary War, George Washington became America's first modern celebrity, a man who needed a large hall to receive the crowds who came to see him at Mount Vernon. Like most gentlemen of the era, Washington was a knowledgeable amateur architect who had worked on his own home, and he added a large reception space to Mount Vernon. As the president refined and expanded Hoban's winning design for the President's House, he had the architect include a large reception space, now the East Room.
The Home of Washington, Mount Vernon, ca 1860 |