_Central Block._ The central block of the house, comprising the
portion which was built first (possibly as early as 1760), is laid out
on the traditional pattern used by many colonial Virginia homes--a
central hallway with one or two rooms on each side, with chimneys at
each end serving fireplaces in each room. In the case of Green Spring
Farm, a narrow (4-foot 6-inch-wide) central hallway runs straight
through from the front door to an opposing rear door. Floor boards are
of random width (5 to 6 inches), and walls are paneled 3 feet 6 inches
up from the floor, with wallpaper above. Doorways open off the central
hallway into a library (east side) and a dining room (west side).
Prior to 1942, the rear portion of the center hallway contained
stairways to the second floor and to the basement, while still
allowing access to the rear door. In 1942, however, the stairway to
the basement was shifted to the west (new kitchen) wing, which was
built at that time; and the stairway to the second floor was shifted
into the library.[91]
In the library, at the rear of the room a narrow (2-foot 6-inch-wide)
stairway rises from the corner nearest the hallway to the second floor
hallway above (figure 13). This stairway extends over the hall doorway
and, together with a panel-and-spindle partition, forms a covered
entryway into the room. A small closet utilizes the space underneath
the stairs.
The present library is a designed room, created in 1942 by Walter
Macomber. The design utilizes the full width of the house and thus
replaces two rooms (approximately 12 by 12 feet) which originally had
comprised the first area east of the central hallway. This original
room design had had a fireplace in each of these two rooms, and in
1942 both were replaced. The one serving the rear room was taken out
entirely as the doorway into the living room wing was cut through at
that point. The one in the former front room was replaced by another
fireplace, specially designed by Mr. Macomber, and built of materials
from a late eighteenth century tavern near Peace Cross, Maryland.[92]
Built into the east wall of the library on each side of the fireplace
are identical cabinets, the lower parts of which are enclosed and the
upper parts are open shelves. The overmantel area is wallpapered, as
are the portions of the room's wall occupied by the window facing the
front yard and the wall between the library and central hallway. Open
shelving for books occupies part of this latter wall, to a height of
eight feet.
The entire room has a cornice molding of stained wood, matching the
paneling used for the stairs, the fireplace, and the built-in
cabinets flanking the fireplace. Across the central hallway, the
present dining room was designed and created in 1942. As in the
case of the library, brick interior walls separating two smaller rooms
(approximately 12 by 12 feet) were removed to allow the dining room to
utilize the full width (25 feet) of the house. The fireplace
serving the rear of the original rooms was replaced by a doorway
into the new kitchen wing through a butler's pantry. The fireplace
serving the front of the original rooms was retained in the present
dining room. Beside this fireplace and extending to the front wall is
a butterfly cupboard specially designed for that location. Chair
rail, baseboard, and door trim in the room are thought to be original;
but the ceiling cornice was added in 1942 and consists of double-ogee
design over beaded plasterboard which is typical of the period of
the house.[93] A cupboard by the doorway to the butler's pantry is
of modern design and was installed as an added convenience in the
dining room.
The doors to the central hallway and to the butler's pantry are
thought to have been originally on the second floor of the house.[94]
The hallway door has six panels, with beaded edges and quarter-round
molding in the panels. A fillet molding (4-1/2 inches) surrounds the
doorway frame. The door has been drastically trimmed to fit the frame.
The door to the butler's pantry has four panels but with a flat raised
panel and no quarter-round molding at the panel edges--a style typical
of the later nineteenth century.
The second floor of the central block of the house originally was laid
out identically with the first floor--that is, two rooms on each side
of a central hallway. In the 1942 renovation, this same room
arrangement was retained for the west side of the central hall (above
the dining room), while on the east side of the hall a single bedroom
(12 by 25 feet) was created using the full depth of the house. In this
bedroom, cabinets with louvered double doors were installed on each
side of the fireplace and painted white to match the fireplace mantel.
This fireplace is one of the features retained from the original house
and has a mantel which is plain except for a denticulated molding.
Chair rail, also thought to be original, is installed on all exposed
areas of wall in the room.
Across the central hallway, the two bedrooms retain the same basic
design of the original house. Both are approximately 11 by 11 feet and
have random-width flooring and chair rail on two sides of the room.
The original fireplaces have been retained in these rooms. In the
front room, the fireplace mantel is entirely plain; in the rear room,
the mantel has two supporting columns and has three diamond shapes
carved in the wood. Both rooms have built-in cabinets, shelves, and
closets, some of which were installed in 1942 and some which were
added in 1960. Also added in 1942 is the door connecting the front
bedroom with the staircase from the first floor of the west wing.
Through the passageway at the head of these stairs, there is access to
the second floor of the west wing.
The third floor (or attic) is entered by a stairway in the central
staircase. At the head of this stairway is a hallway connecting
bedrooms in the east and west ends of the house and providing access
to closets at the rear of the house and a small bathroom (7 by 7 feet)
at the front of the house. The bathroom has a dormer window to the
front of the house, and each of the bedrooms has a dormer window to
the front and a window in the gable end wall. The gable end windows
are set in plaster arches, flanked in each case by a 4-foot-high
candle shelf. Both bedrooms have built-in closets, cupboards, and
shelves. Bedroom walls have plain plaster finish and plain wooden
baseboards, no cornices, and no chair rail.
_East Wing._ The east wing of the house presently includes the living
room and a sunporch. The floor level of this wing is 1 foot 8 inches
lower than the floor level of the central block; and the connecting
doorway has three steps, with double doors at the top step.
The date when the east wing was built is not certain, but it is
probable that the basic structure comprising the wing was constructed
around 1840 and thereafter used as a kitchen or combination
kitchen-dining room until the renovation of the house in 1942.
Photographs taken about 1900 and in 1936 show this wing with a door
opening to the front of the house at ground level. The floor of the
old kitchen was laid with cobblestones, and the east end of the room
had a great hearth and Dutch oven. Food was cooked here and taken up
the stairs into the main part of the house. Many other household
chores (such as soapmaking) were performed here.[95]
When the house was renovated in 1942, the cobblestone floor of the
room was overlaid with wooden flooring and pine wainscotting was added
to the walls. On the north side, looking out onto the semicircular
lawn, a picture window was installed. On the south side of the room,
the outside door was replaced with a window similar to the one already
in that side (figure 9). The large hearth and fireplace were replaced
with a smaller one similar to what had been installed in the library
(with the unusual wooden lintel).
According to the renovator, the paneling for the doorway connecting
the living room and library came from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The
overmantel and paneling around the living room fireplace and over the
doorway connecting the living room and sunporch came from a tavern
near Peace Cross, Maryland, where it had been used as shuttering.[96]
The architraves around the fireplace and pilasters were designed by
the renovator from materials obtained in Pennsylvania.[97] The cornice
in the living room is of cypress wood.
Entrance to the sunporch from the living room is through a doorway
trimmed in material from an old building in Pennsylvania.
Wrought iron H hinges are used on the built-in cabinets in the east
wall (next to the fireplace). The sunporch door has wrought iron
hinges and a brass box lock.
The sunporch, added to the east wing in 1942, is frame construction on
a concrete slab floor. When built, it was a screened porch, but later
was converted to glass window panels to accommodate plants and pet
animals in all seasons.
On the second floor of the east wing is a bedroom and bathroom suite,
entered from the central block of the house on the second floor level.
Dormer windows are on the north (rear) and south (front) sides of the
bedroom, and the bathroom has a dormer window on the north side. The
bedroom has built-in closets, shelves, and cupboards, the hardware of
which is wrought iron. Doors have box locks and small brass door
knobs. Two steps are built into the doorway connecting the east wing
with the central block of the house on the second floor level.
_West Wing._ The west wing of the house was added in 1942, and was
designed by the renovator, Walter Macomber.
The first floor contains a modern kitchen, a butler's pantry, and a
staircase containing stairways to the basement and to the second
floor, together with storage closets. An exterior door in the end wall
provides direct access to the outside.
The second floor of the west wing contains a bedroom and bathroom
suite similar in layout to the suite on the second floor of the east
wing. The bedroom contains built-in closets, shelves, and cupboards,
and wrought iron hardware (thumb latches and H and L hinges).
_Basement._ The basement is beneath the central block of the house,
and its design is basically unchanged from the original except for the
concrete footings and steel columns placed there in 1960 to strengthen
the deteriorating brick interior wall. The basement was not extended
underneath either of the two wings of the house when they were
constructed.
Entrance to the basement originally was by a stairway located at the
end of the central hallway, where also was located the stairway to the
second floor and attic. In 1942, however, the stairway to the basement
was shifted to a new staircase located in the new west wing of the
house, where it is at the present time. The basement currently
contains gas heating equipment for the house, a water heater, and
storage space.