to act as a carpenter and joiner for the Masons for four years. In November, when Buckland arrived, the exterior walls of Gunston Hall were probably complete. Buckland probably did design the portico overlooking the garden, in addition to much of the interior. The various carvings in the mansion were probably the combined work of William Buckland and William Bernard Sears. Buckland most likely provided designs for the carvings, but Sears most likely carved the wood. Buckland and Sears probably worked on much of the original furniture together. At the time, it was not uncommon for English architects to design furniture as well as buildings. Later history The mansion stayed in the Mason family until 1867. From 1868 to 1891, it was owned by Edward Daniels, a Virginia newspaper publisher and Reconstruction Era politician, who was a former Union cavalry officer and ardent abolitionist. In 1912, it was bought by retired Marshall Field & Company executive, Louis Hertle, whose second wife, Eleanor Daughaday, was a member of The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America. They set about restoring the mansion to its original plan and hosted many prominent guests. In 1949, Hertle in his will gave the property to the Commonwealth of Virginia as a museum to be run by The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America. Architecture First floor The front of the house faces northwest. The first floor of the house is divided in two by a central passage, leading from a door in the northwest to a door in the southeast, with a staircase running up on the northeast side. On the northeast side of the central passage is the primary chamber (or bedroom) in the front, and the little parlor in the back. Between the primary chamber and the little parlor is a smaller passage, leading to a service staircase and a small, side stairway. The Gunston Hall Plantation official website says that on the southwest side of the house is a parlor in the front and a dining room in the back. However, the Historic American Buildings Survey says that on the southwest side of the house the dining room is in the front and a palladian room is in the back. The central passage is lined by six symmetrical Doric-style pilasters. A double arch, with a carved pine cone, divides the front of the passage from the back. In the