Panorama (Montross, Virginia)
Panorama | |
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| Location | 1005 Panorama Road, Montross, Virginia |
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| Coordinates | 38°06′11″N 76°50′32″W / 38.103014°N 76.842265°W |
| Area | 133.5 acres (54.0 ha) |
| Built | 1932 |
| Architectural style | Colonial Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 10001186[1] |
| Added to NRHP | January 31, 2011 |
Panorama is a historic estate in Montross, Virginia. The 2.5 story brick Colonial Revival house, located on an estate of over 130 acres (53 ha), was built in 1932 to a design by Joseph Evans Sperry for local politician and attorney Charles E. Stuart, and has been virtually unaltered since its construction. The building is sited between the two branches of Chandler's Mill Pond, and has two main facades, one facing the long drive from the road, and the other facing south toward the lake. The house is prominently visible from the Kings Highway (Virginia Route 3), which crosses the Chandler's Mill Pond Dam.[2]
Panorama is strikingly similar to historic Bushfield, home of John Augustine Washington, brother of George Washington. The exterior design mimics the Colonial Revival renovations at Bushfield, which features the same dual facades, one a 3-bay entrance with projecting central block and the other a mounmental 2-story portico. The interior staircase in Panorama is a mirror image of Bushfield Manor's.
The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.[1]
The estate in Montross was given the name “Panorama” for a former Stuart home in King George County. The original mansion occupied a high ridge overlooking the Chotank Creek and Potomac Valley and perhaps was rightly named. It was situated on the same range of hills as the “Salisbury,” "Hilton,” and “Litchfield” estates and was named for its beautiful landscape. The Greek revival styled mansion was two-story and set in a wide lawn adorned by beautiful trees.
The original Panorama estate was purchased by Richard Stuart of “Cedar Grove” in the early 1830s, for his only daughter Margaret Robinson Stuart, who married Thomas Lunsford Lomax. The later, in the mid 1830s, built the original Panorama mansion where they raised three sons and two daughters. In the early 1850s, the Lomax family scattered upon the early death of Thomas Lunsford Lomax. The estate then reverted to Margaret Robinson (Stuart) Lomax’s brother, Doctor Richard Henry Stuart of “Cleydael.” The Stuart family enjoyed the Panorama mansion primarily as a summer home as they feared malaria on the Chotank Creek and Potomac River which bordered their Cedar Grove estate. In 1889 Dr. Richard Henry Stuart willed Panorama to his daughter, Margaret Stuart, who was married to Major Robert Waterman Hunter, CSA. Around 1910, the home was deserted as a dwelling. Sometime later, the 1700 acre Panorama estate was purchased by Harry T. Berry who farmed and raised livestock on the property. In doing so, Harry Berry used the deserted mansion for grain storage. The original Panorama mansion stood unoccupied through at least 1958; sometime in the late 1950s or early 1960s, it caught fire and was ruined. In 1997, Bluegreen Properties of Virginia purchased the property and developed the Meadows at Dahlgren subdivision. All that remains of the original estate is a 1/3 mile portion of the road that leads north from the Old County Road to where the original estate once proudly stood.
See also
References
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ "NRHP nomination for Panorama" (PDF). Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
