Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 09/09/1969
NRHP Listing Date 11/12/1969
NHL Listing Date 11/11/1971
NRHP Reference Number 69000255
Begun in 1804 and embellished over the next two decades, the monumental mansion of Oatlands, along with its numerous outbuildings and extensive gardens, forms one of the nation’s most elaborate Federal-style country estates. The complex was developed by George Carter, one of the scions of prominent Tidewater families who migrated to Northern Virginia after the Revolution. Carter developed the mansion’s design from illustrations in William Chambers’s A Treatise on Civil Architecture (1786). With its stuccoed walls, demi-octagonal wings, parapeted roof, and a portico of slender Corinthian columns added by Carter in 1827, the house has a special lightness and elegance. The airy rooms with their intricate Federal ornamentation complement the exterior. Oatlands remained in the Carter family until 1897. In 1903 it was acquired by William Corcoran Eustis, grandson of banker and philanthropist William Wilson Corcoran. The estate was donated to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1965, and it serves as the centerpiece to the Oatlands Historic District.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Updated: April 20, 2021
