Dave's Top 20 Projects Countdown: #10 Mount Vernon, Distillery, Historic Replication

#10: Mount Vernon, Distillery, Historic Replication, Mount Vernon, VA

I had the rare opportunity twice in my career to be the project engineer and designer for replications of historic structures at George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate.

The second project was after I founded LE, when we were awarded the design work for the reconstruction of Washington’s Distillery. The upper level of the 4,800 SF structure is an exhibit and interpretive center designed to meet current code requirements. Member sizes were authentic with the period of the buildings, with circa-1790 joinery used at all visible wood framing connections.

I learned most of what I know about historic preservation working with a team of experts on these two projects, especially Dennis Pogue, who at the time was the Associate Director of Preservation at Mount Vernon. One of my fondest memories was walking on site and watching the archaeologists uncover the remains of the existing foundations upon which the new building would be reconstructed.?

In the process I also learned that George Washington operated one of the largest commercial whiskey distilleries in early America, producing 11,000 gallons at the time of his death in 1799. The original structure was built on large river rocks brought from the Falls of the Potomac, and the walls of the distillery were made of sandstone quarried from Mount Vernon. To see photos of the archeological dig of the distillery foundation, visit Archaeology at The Distillery?·?George Washington's Mount Vernon

Client: Quinn Evans Architects

#StructuralEngineering #LintonEngineering #HistoricPreservation #MVLA #GeorgeWashington #Preservation #HistoricReplication #HistoricPlaces #Distillery #NHL #NRHP #QEA

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