The growth of the DuPont Company after the Civil War was symbolized by a big new headquarters building in High Victorian Gothic, across Buck Road from the family burying ground. When the office staff eventually moved to downtown Wilmington (see DuPont Building,
WL32
), that headquarters became the William K. du Pont house in 1902 and, after his death five years later, was radically altered into a Colonial Revival–style mansion by E. Paul du Pont. Here Paul built the prototype Du Pont automobile, a 1919 Model A, and oversaw the growth of Du Pont Motors until the Depression ruined his business in 1932. Only 547 Du Pont cars were produced, including the test car for the Model G (1928) now on display nearby in the barn at Eleutherian Mills (see
CH15.6
). President Franklin D. Roosevelt was received in the parlor at du Pont's home during a visit to Delaware.