Who Built Collingwood in Alexandria, VA?

Local tradition, a 1937 Works Progress Administration report on the structure, and the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) hold that

” The original house was built about 1785 and probably served as an overseer’s house.  It was a small, seven room, two-story structure.  Not until 1932 was the house enlarged to its present size by the addition of two 2-story wings and a colonnaded portico.”

HABS, 1970

However, recent historians, using deeds, tax records, newspaper articles have given credit for building Collingwood to Henry Allen Taylor, a young lawyer-turned-farmer from a prominent Alexandria family, who purchased the land from the Washington’s relatives in 1852.  His untimely death brought about the sale of the home in 1856.

In 2015, historical architect and preservation consultant C. Richard Bierce examined the home including accessible joists in the larger part of Collingwood and determined “the construction of this wing as post ca. 1840″.  A photograph taken at some point in the 19^th century shows the farmhouse that was enlarged to become the mansion as we know it today. 

Bierce points to the 2-story, 3 bay section on the right of the old photo as the oldest part Collingwood.   In the recent photo, this corresponds to the section on the left side of the newer wing with the exposed chimney.   He theorizes that the one story block on the far left of the recent photo is either the damaged 2 story addition in the old photo or a replacement that preceded the extensive 20^th century work that externally obscures the remaining original structural elements of the building.

It is possible that Henry Allen Taylor’s Collingwood home was built slightly before his purchase of the property or was constructed on the site of an earlier home.  Bierce’s inspection of the home used visual rather than destructive analysis and my own documentary research is ongoing.  In any case, the historic value of Collingwood does not hinge on its builder or exact date of construction.  Its connection over the last 160 years to the Taylor family, Washington’s descendants, the Snowden family and modern uses as a World War II training facility, landmark restaurant and Library on Americanism give it remarkable significance.