History
The building of Rosewell was begun in 1725 by Mann Page I (1691–1730), who married in 1718 Judith Carter, the daughter of Robert Carter I. 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 Mann Page I 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.
Their son Mann Page II saw the house through to completion after the elder Page's early death.
The Rosewell Mansion was destroyed by fire in 1916. Today, a largely undisturbed historic ruin, the site has been the subject of archaeological work which has revealed many artifacts and shed light on some aspects of colonial life and architecture previously unclear.
Read more about this topic: Rosewell (plantation)
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