Paying Tribute

George Washington Parke Custis, a man who inherited 18,000 acres and 200 enslaved laborers through his lineage to Martha Washington, used these resources to build Arlington House in memory of his step-grandfather, George Washington, whom he idolized. The Greek Revival style mansion, designed by capitol architect George Hadfield, glorified Washington's ideals. Construction began in 1802. Although Custis had access to land and labor, he could not afford real stone, so workers covered clay bricks with stucco and painted them to look like sandstone, the material used to build the White House. Enslaved laborers, free blacks, and indentured servants built the mansion in four phases.

Arlington, Virginia · United States