
Commanding tremendous views to the west, the main house, a five-bay brick composition with a parapet gable roof and a one-story, three-bay Doric portico, is one of the most elaborate houses of its decade in Virginia. The owner, William V. Fletcher, obviously had a strong ego. Across Virginia 729 stand three identical slave houses, unusual in that they survive, in their brick construction (most slave housing was of wood), and in their detailing, with their parapet gable roofs and exterior end chimneys. The arrangement of the slave houses in such a prominent position, rather than to the rear or hidden, as was the common practice, indicates their role as part of the landscape composition: picturesque foreground elements with a broad view beyond.