Although the wings with their tall recessed windows and balustrade are quite pleasing, the magnificent portico is the salient architectural feature of the mansion, one of the earliest and best-known examples of Greek Doric porticos in America. This extends 25 feet from the front of the house and has 8 columns 23 feet high and somewhat over 5 feet thick at the base. Early authorities differ as to whether the portico was derived from the smaller, well-proportioned Greek temple at Athens known as the Theseum, or the larger, more imposing temple of Neptune at Paestum, Italy. There is no doubt, however, as to the effectiveness of the architectural style chosen, for no other would have had the strength and massiveness necessary to make the building impressive when viewed from across the river. Yet for all its simplicity and solidity, the proportions of the mansion are so refined as to make it an outstanding example of Greek Classic Revival architecture of the early nineteenth century. The building is of the most solid construction throughout. All the walls and most of the foundations are of brick, as are the columns of the portico. All of the brickwork exposed to the weather is protected by hard stucco plaster scored with lines in imitation of cut stone. Joists, studs, and rafters are of hewn timber and are neatly mortised together or pinned with wooden pegs, scarcely any nails being used. Doors, cornices, and other woodwork are of pine. The main roof is supported by great barnlike trusses which span the entire width of the center section and originally was covered with wooden shingles, now replaced by slate. At one time the portico columns were painted to look like marble, but later were made white for better contrast with the warm buff or ochre color of the remainder of the house. Well constructed to begin with, the deterioration inevitable in any old building was entirely corrected when the War Department restored the building. Careful maintenance now assures a long and useful future for the Custis-Lee Mansion. THE CONSERVATORY. Because flowers were important in the life of the Arlington household, it is most appropriate that present-day visitors enter the mansion through the conservatory. Both Mrs. Lee and her mother, Mrs. Custis, were devoted to their gardens and used flowers for decorations throughout the house. Called the “conservatory,” or “greenhouse,” and sometimes the “camellia house,” by those who lived there, this was the room in which they grew their favorite flowers and plants during the winter months or started young ones for transplanting outdoors. The floor of the conservatory has been restored, but the woodwork and most of the windows are original. [Illustration: _The conservatory._]