{"nrhp_refnum":"66000832","name":"Gunston Hall","other_names":["Gunston Hall Manor"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"10709 Gunston Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Mason Neck","county":"Fairfax (city and county)","state":"VA","lat":38.66367772500004,"lon":-77.1611671252158,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-10-15","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1960-12-19","areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture","Landscape Architecture","Historic - Non-Aboriginal"],"significance_levels":["national","state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Gunston Hall is a one-and-one-half-story brick plantation house on Gunston Neck near Lorton, Mason Neck, Fairfax County, Virginia, built between 1755 and 1758 as the home of George Mason. The nominated property covers about 555 acres of grounds.","why_significant":"The house was the home of George Mason, whose writings, including the 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights, influenced the American Revolution, the Bill of Rights and the Constitution of 1787. The nomination also stresses its architecture, especially the carved interior woodwork by William Buckland, including the Palladian Room and the Chinese Chippendale Room, and the unusual Colonial Gothic south porch.","narrative":"Gunston Hall is a brick plantation house built between 1755 and 1758 on Gunston Neck in Fairfax County, Virginia, for George Mason. Mason planned the building's shape, floor plan and materials. William Buckland, a young English joiner brought over on a four-year indenture, carved the interior woodwork and designed the porches. The exterior is plain, with Flemish bond brickwork, stone quoins and five dormers, but the interiors are elaborate. The Palladian Room is described as among the most important examples of carved decoration of its period in the country, and the Chinese Chippendale Room is unique in Virginia. The south porch is a rare Colonial Gothic octagon. Mason wrote the 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights, which influenced the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, and he died at the house in 1792. The Commonwealth of Virginia received the property in 1932. The grounds include a boxwood allee, restored gardens, a cemetery and reconstructed outbuildings.","period_of_significance":"1700-1799","architect_builder":"George Mason/William Buckland","architectural_style":"Colonial Georgian-era Virginia plantation house with Palladian and Chinese Chippendale interiors and a Colonial Gothic south porch","criteria":[],"status_note":"Restored; in excellent condition, owned by the Commonwealth of Virginia, maintained by the National Society of Colonial Dames and open to the public as a museum.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:58.005826-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/17/6790/41679017/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/66000832_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000832/ad479de209-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000832/ad479de209-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":null,"credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gunston_hall_loc_tree.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Unknown author</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gunston_hall_loc_tree.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41679017","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunston_Hall","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1554859"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/fairfax/gunston-hall-66000832/"}