VI
SALONA: THE HOUSE AND OUTBUILDINGS
The date of construction and the name of the builder of the house known as Salona are unknown.
There have been many changes to the mansion house, the outbuildings and grounds through the years. The central house now has only one wing instead of the earlier two. The large barn has been torn down; only the substantial foundation bears witness to its size. A pile of rubble marks the site of "the old stone house," thought by the Smoot family to have been the oldest structure on the property. The driveway entrance is off Buchanan Street instead of the Falls Road, although evidence of the older driveway still exists. The rear entrance road has been blocked by subdivision construction, although its route remains visible across the south side of the property. Perhaps the most decided changes are in the use of the land itself. As McLean grew, the Salona farm shrank in area and its formerly fertile acres were transformed into shopping centers, subdivisions, streets and roads.
Architectural historians say that they cannot pin-point the exact construction date of Salona, but believe it to have been between 1790 and 1810, a full twenty-year span. This belief is based in part on examination of the types of nails used in the attic of the main house, as well as the similarity of the "cross and Bible" door at the north entrance to some of the doors at Sully, whose construction began in 1793. [129] Many local sources claim that the house was built in 1801 by William Maffitt, [130] but this supposition has not been documented. The Smoot children were always told by their elders that the house was started in 1790 and finished in 1801, and that Maffitt was the builder. There was a residential structure on the land when the 466 acres were advertised for sale in 1811. [131]
Originally, the house was probably a rectangular two-story, five-bay structure with flanking wings, which may have been frame. On the north front, the brickwork is Flemish bond; on the other three sides and the wing it is common bond. There are two interior end chimneys. An elaborate bracketed cornice supports the gabled roof. This cornice and the bracketed entrance porch with paired, squared columns show definite Victorian influence and were probably originally added after the Civil War. The DuVals altered the design slightly when they renovated the house in 1952.
The most unusual feature of Salona is its wide T-shaped hall which runs the full width of the north front of the central house, with the main stairway rising at its west end directly across one of the front windows. The long hall originally led to the wings on either end, but these were apparently destroyed during the Civil War and only the east wing was rebuilt in 1866. There is a fireplace in every room, although most of the Federal-style mantels have been recently installed in Salona and have come from old houses in North Carolina and New England. There are chair rails on the walls of the living room, dining room, and the first floor hallway. Extensive remodeling was done by the present owners. [132] The T-shaped hall ends on the solid wall behind the stairway on the west side, and on the east leads directly into the post-Civil War wing which contains a small sitting room, bathroom, and the kitchen. The smaller hall, the stem of the T, runs perpendicular to the main hall with opposing entrance doors at each end. The spacious living and dining rooms flank the smaller hall, with entrances from the main hall.