Green Spring Farm, Fairfax County, VirginiaNetherton, Ross De Witt
History
Green Spring Farm, Fairfax County, Virginia
Netherton, Ross De Witt
Green Spring Farm (Va.)
The arrangement of rooms during the nineteenth century is not known
with certainty. The 1839 reference to eight rooms suggests that as
originally built the house had four rooms on each floor, with perhaps
no effort to use the attic as living space, at least until the time of
Fountain Beattie who added dormers to the attic and used this top
floor to help accommodate his large family. This inference is
strengthened by the fact that prior to the 1940's the central core of
the house was laid out in this manner.
[Illustration: Figure 10. GREEN SPRING FARM MANSION HOUSE, Floor Plans,
1969]
The major renovation of the house in the early 1940's was planned and
carried out by Walter Macomber and resulted in the addition of a wing
on the west end of the central block (in which a new kitchen was
installed), conversion of the old kitchen wing on the east end of the
central core into a living room with a small sunporch attached,
rearrangement of the stairways and central hallway, and certain other
interior changes. This involved removal of substantial amounts of the
original materials in the house and replacement by material considered
to be suitable in terms of age and texture. These changes are
reflected in the exterior appearance and interior room arrangement of
the house at the present time.
Further structural changes were made in 1960. At this time it was
discovered that the second floor was sagging because of the removal of
bearing walls in 1942 when the first floor was converted from four
rooms into two.[88] This situation was corrected by pouring concrete
footings in the basement and setting in them a series of steel
columns. These columns ran up through the wall on the west side of the
central hallway and were topped by a steel beam running the width of
the house. The joists for the second floor were anchored in this new
beam.[89]
At the same time this structural reinforcement was being added,
several closets, cabinets, and bookcases were built into the rooms on
the second floor and attic, making use of space under the eaves.
The remodeling done in 1960 was designed and supervised by Keyes,
Lethbridge & Condon, Washington architects.
At the present time, the exterior fabric appears to be sound and well
maintained. On the interior, a certain amount of deterioration is
evidenced in the looseness of the joints in the flooring and stairs
and in the uneven settling of door frames in the original portion of
the house. The grounds adjacent to the house are in good condition and
appear to be well maintained.
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION--EXTERIOR.
_Overall Dimensions._ Width: 78 feet by 25 feet in central section,
and 20 feet in wings. Height: central section, two and one-half
stories; wings, one and one-half stories; sunporch, one story.
_Foundations._ The central section of the house stands on brick
foundations which are carried up through the basement walls.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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