Rosewell (plantation)
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Rosewell
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Ruins of Rosewell.
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| Location | Rosewell, HABS Photo |
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| Coordinates | 37°19′40″N 76°34′35″W / 37.32778°N 76.57639°WCoordinates: 37°19′40″N 76°34′35″W / 37.32778°N 76.57639°W |
| Area | 9.9 acres (4.0 ha) |
| Built | 1725 |
| NRHP reference # | 69000244 |
| VLR # | 036-0041 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | October 1, 1969 |
| Designated VLR | November 5, 1968 |
Rosewell Plantation in Gloucester County, Virginia, was for more than 100 years the home of a branch of the Page family, one of the First Families of Virginia. Begun in 1725, the Flemish bond brick Rosewell mansion overlooking the York River was one of the most elaborate homes in the American colonies. In Mansions of Virginia, the architectural historian Thomas Tileston Waterman described the plantation house as "the largest and finest of American houses of the colonial period." Through much of the 18th century and 19th centuries, and during the American Civil War, Rosewell plantation hosted the area's most elaborate formal balls and celebrations. The home burned in 1916.
The building of Rosewell was begun in 1725 by Mann Page I (1691–1730). In 1718 he had married Judith Carter, the daughter of Robert "King" Carter. Educated at Eton College and Oxford University in England, Mann Page was appointed to the Governor's Council of the Virginia Colony shortly after his return to Virginia. He embarked on construction of Rosewell in 1725, but died five years later before construction was completed.
It was Page's intention to build a home that would rival or exceed the newly completed Governor's Palace in Williamsburg in size and luxury. When Page died five years into construction on the home, the property passed to his wife Judith. The primary construction materials were brick, marble and mahogany, some of which was imported from England. Architectural historians believe that the 12,000-square-foot (1,100 m2) house, double the size of the Governor's Palace, may have been designed by Mann Page himself. Larger than any home built in colonial Virginia, Rosewell probably owed its design to the London townhouses built to the stricter codes following the Great Fire of London.
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