Extract from John Edwards Caldwell’s A Tour through Part of Virginia in the Summer of 1808
The house is an irregular octagon, with porticoes on the east and west sides, and piazzas on the north and south ends. Its extent, including the porticoes and piazzas, is about one hundred and ten by ninety feet; the external is finished in the Doric order complete, with a ballustrade on the top of it. In the center of the S. W. side, over the parlour, is an attic story, terminated with a dome, which has a fine effect, and forms a beautiful room inside. The internal of the house contains specimens of all the different orders, except the composite, which is not introduced; the hall is in the Ionic, the dining room, in the Doric, the parlour, in the Corinthian, and dome in the Attic; in the other rooms are introduced several different forms of these orders, all in the truest proportions, according to Palladio ...