Elsing Green


A Piece of America's History

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ARCHITECTURE

The main house at Elsing Green is one of Virginia’s outstanding examples of  Colonial architecture.   Elsing Green’s U-shaped  plan with two wings to the north is unique for a house its size.

The main house is two stories with an English  basement. The Flemish bond brickwork is  executed in the highest Colonial Virginia Standards.   The brick walls are laid with random glazed headers above and below the water table.  Rubbed brick surrounds the windows,  entrance and corners of the  house.  The belt course and  splayed flat window arches (said to be among the deepest found in Virginia) consist of gauged brickwork. 

 The main house is largely furnished in eighteenth century American and English furniture.  Included among the furniture is the “Surrender Table” upon which the American and French Commissioners met with English  Commissioners to negotiate  the terms of surrender of the British forces at Yorktown. This resulted in the conclusion of the American Revolution in 1781.

To the east of the main house is the small  lodge built  before 1690, an excellent example of one of the very few Jacobean period brick buildings in Virginia. The lodge is one and a half stories with an  English basement.  Like the main house, the walls are laid in Flemish bond above the water table, and rubbed brick surrounds the windows, doors and corners.  To the west of the main house  lies the old kitchen  where the meals were prepared to be served to the family in the main house.

 


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