Other houses built about this time reveal the similarity of designs of private estates to the Governor's Palace. Westover (1733), home of Colonel William Byrd II on the James River, is considered by many historians and architects as the finest example of colonial grandeur and Georgian stateliness in Virginia. English wrought-iron gates are fastened to posts at the top of which are two leaden eagles with half-spread wings. The mansion house is constructed of red brick with a center section two stories high. On either side of the center section is a wing a story and a half high connected by passageways. At both ends of the house are pairs of tall chimneys. Elaborate entrances, paneled walls, an open-string staircase and black and white marble mantels imported from Italy are some of the elegant features still found in the mansion at the present time.
Christ Church in Lancaster County was erected about the same time as Westover. This structure is an example of a Greek-cruciform colonial church. The church is constructed of brick, has three wide brick doors, oval windows and has the unusual history of having been built solely with funds furnished by one individual, the wealthy "King" Carter.
Stratford Hall (1725-1730) in Westmoreland County, the home of Thomas Lee and the birthplace of Robert E. Lee, exemplifies another H-shaped house of beauty and grandeur. Constructed of brick and dominated by two groups of four chimneys, Stratford consists of the H-plan with four large attached buildings at the corners. A unique feature of this house is its exceptionally long flight of stairs which one must ascend before reaching the main floor. The main floor consists of five large rooms with a huge hall which forms the bar of the "H." Each wing also has a pair of rooms connected by passages.
Carter's Grove (1751) in James City County is another Georgian type house, planned and partially constructed by Carter Burwell in 1751. The main unit of the mansion was constructed by the English builder, Richard Bayliss, and another Britisher, David Minitree. The mansion consists of two-and-a-half stories with wings on each side of one story. It is particularly noteworthy for its almost perfect symmetry. The main unit has a very high roof with a pair of large square chimneys. There are several dormer windows and the entire structure is 200 feet long. The interior as well as the exterior is beautiful with extensive pine paneling, a graceful arch across the middle of the main hall and exquisitely carved walnut railings along the stairway. Some officers of Lt. Col. Banaster Tarleton's troops used this place as headquarters in 1781. When Tarleton suddenly needed his troops, he rode horseback up the beautiful carved stairway. The horse's hoofprints are still observable on the stairway steps.
Mount Airy in Richmond County was constructed by Colonel John Tayloe in 1758. This house is unusual because it was built entirely of stone, a rarity because the Tidewater area did not have an extensive amount of stone. Mount Airy is built of brown stone and trimmed with light stone furnishing a colorful contrast.
The architecture of churches in Virginia is likewise varied. St. Luke's Church, originally known as the Brick Church in Isle of Wight County, is believed to be the oldest church still in existence in the original thirteen colonies. It is easily recognizable from its square tower and gabled nave. The brick Jamestown Church Tower (1639) is a Gothic structure also. The famous Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg (1715) is an example of the change in architecture due to Governor Spottswood's planned improvement program for Williamsburg. This is the oldest Episcopal Church continuously in use in Virginia. Its cruciform construction of red brick is unusual with its numerous high, white shuttered windows. The square tower was built at a later date and seems to add dignity to the structure. Christ Church in Alexandria, constructed in 1767-1772, has characteristics of the late Georgian Colonial Period: red brick, a square tower with an octagonal-shaped belfry having a dome cupola, a trimming of white stone and a crown of Wrennish pepperpots.
Thomas Jefferson contributed much to original Virginia architecture. Jefferson was devoted to the classical style, yet followed new trends of his own. For example, the Capitol at Richmond was planned by Jefferson. Jefferson used the famous Roman temple at Nîmes in southern France, the Maison Carrée, as the basic design and modified it according to his wishes. He had a plaster model of it made in Paris and sent to Virginia to be used as the pattern for the new Capitol. The original building is the central building which was constructed from 1785 to 1788. Later, the brick was covered with stucco and the wings and the long flight of steps were added in 1904-1906. The revival of classicism in architecture is traced to the individual efforts of Thomas Jefferson. His contacts with many of the outstanding architects of the time, including Robert Mills, helped spread the classic ideas throughout the nation. Thus, the dignity of the great plantation houses constructed during this period is attributed to the style advocated by Jefferson. He not only favored this style but proceeded to utilize the style which he advocated. Monticello, Jefferson's home at Charlottesville, was built of red brick. Its dome, its Doric columns, its symmetrical arrangement, its circular windows, its octagonal bay and stately porticos, its wedgewood mantelpiece—all characterize the Early Republican type of architecture in Virginia.
Jefferson carried out a similar classical style when he founded the University of Virginia. The Serpentine Walls of red brick which surround most of the gardens were designed and built by Jefferson, following a type he had seen in France. The walls are approximately six feet high and one brick thick and constructed on a wavelike plan for added strength. Jefferson also designed the five two-story temple-like pavilions including porticos and had them constructed of red brick walls with white trim and white classic columns. Bremo, near Fork Union, and Poplar Forest, near Lynchburg (where Jefferson used to spend quiet weekends in retreat) are two other houses designed and built by Jefferson.
Robert Mills, who received architectural instruction from Jefferson and whose name is associated with the colonnade of the Treasury Building in Washington and with the Washington Monuments in Washington and in Baltimore, also contributed to the development of architecture in Virginia. Mills designed the Monumental Episcopal Church in Richmond with its structure of stuccoed brick and brown sandstone, its octagonal domes and its columns. Mills' stuccoed houses in Richmond are considered most unique. The front of this type of house which faced the street is comparatively plain and simple, but the back of the house which faced the river usually had a graceful, tall, columned portico with a hanging balcony. Thus, Mills' houses had the appearance of a regular city house in the front and a country house in the back. The Valentine Museum, formerly the John Wickham House, and the White House of the Confederacy, formerly the Jefferson Davis Mansion, located in Richmond were both designed by Robert Mills.
Sherwood Forest, located on the James River, was the home of John Tyler, tenth President of the United States, after he retired from the Presidency. He enlarged the originally-built dwelling twofold and also had a closed-in colonnade constructed to connect the main house with the kitchen and the laundry. After a ballroom and an office had also been added, the entire structure was 300 feet long, one of the longest houses in the country. The original house was built in 1780 with additions made in 1845.