Berkeley Plantation: A Mansion in Colonial Virginia

In this installment of ‘Larger Than Life: Architecture Through the Ages,’ we see Thomas Jefferson’s architectural touches on a Georgian-style mansion.

Indicative of Federal-style architecture, distinct dentil molding defines the roof pitch of the Berkeley Plantation mansion. Bricks fired on the property are arranged in a Flemish bond pattern, meaning an alternating pattern of bricks laid lengthwise and widthwise. Architectural symmetry is present in the double-hung sash window placements. Three dormers are centered uniformly between brick chimneys. Deena Bouknight

Built circa 1726, Berkeley Plantation’s mansion in Charles City, Virginia, was already 60-plus years old when Thomas Jefferson visited his friend, Benjamin Harrison VI. Jefferson looked around the dark-paneled sitting rooms and suggested changes based on his own Monticello dwelling in Charlottesville, Virginia.

In the late 1700s, Harrison removed the original walls separating two sitting rooms and added pass-through arches to flank the middle of the enlarged room’s double-sided fireplace. Carved, decorative moldings and a capstone on the arches reflected the Jeffersonian touch. The rooms were then flooded with light and became the gathering places for generations of Harrison’s friends and family.