Great Estates: Historic Hampton in Towson, Maryland

Editorial Staff Furniture & Decorative Arts

Just outside of Baltimore in Towson, Maryland is the Hampton National Historic Site, part of the National Park Service since 1948, when it was the first site to receive recognition for architectural merit.  Built in a popular Georgian domestic style, the mansion is a series of three main units connected by recessed “hyphens,” stretching 175 feet across a large hill.  …

Benjamin Henry Latrobe and the furniture of John and Hugh Finlay

Editorial Staff Furniture & Decorative Arts

December 2009 | On the evening of Wednesday, August 24, 1814, British troops brazenly torched much of the small capital city of Washington, including the large Virginia sand­­­stone house built as the residence for the president of the United States between 1792 and 1800 (see Fig. 1).1 Among the losses smoldering in the rubble was an extraordinary set of painted …