Tulip Hill

About this property

Tulip Hill is a plantation house located about one mile from Galesville in Anne Arundel County in the Province of Maryland. Built between 1755 and 1756, it is a particularly fine example of an early Georgian mansion, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970 for its architecture. The house sits atop a ridge and overlooks the West River. The house was built by Samuel Galloway for his wife, Ann (Chew) Galloway. They married in 1742. The land for Tulip Hill originally was patented to Richard Talbot in 1659 as "Poplar Knowl." The house sits on a ridge from which terraces paralleling the river lead down to the meadow. According to an entry in the builder's account book, all of the bricks used to build the house were made on the site. Between 1787 and 1790, the Georgian style plantation house was expanded with end pavilions to become a five-part house. The site retains its tree-lined entrance lane and terraced garden. The curious gambrel or double-hipped roof is set off by a pediment with a bull's-eye window and dormers on the rear. A well defined cornice and a small white pedimented porch with four columns shading the front door add dignity to the facade. The central block is two stories high and 52 feet (16 m) wide by 42 feet (13 m) deep. Windows are nine-over-nine sashes, with the second floor windows somewhat smaller than the first. The brickwork is laid in Flemish bond. Two unusual fireplaces brick chimneys, with multiple flues, project through either end of the central portion of the house and tower over the one story wings. The two-story end pavilions and one story hyphens have brickwork in running bond. A spacious hall runs the depth of the house with a large double arch dividing it equally. The front half has a chair rail and corner cupboard while the other half contains the staircase. The hall, while in the middle of the house, is not centered, being offset to the right and lit by the window to the right of the entrance door. The hall narrows at the stair hall, which contains an unusually fine curved walnut staircase. To the right of the hall, in front, is a small reception room with a larger dining room behind, connected by a narrow hall with a service stair. On the left side of the hall are two paneled drawing rooms. The second floor is similarly arranged, except that a small chamber occupies the end of the hall opposite the stairs. The two large eastern bedrooms are paneled. The west wing contained a kitchen, while the east wing contained plantation offices. Located at the edge of a high plateau, with the land falling rapidly away on three sides, Tulip Hill is a five-part composition with a full stone basement under the entire structure. The central block, two full stories, with a high unfinished attic and double hipped roof, is 52 feet wide and 42 feet deep. The two brick end wings, built at right angles to the main axis and measuring 20 x 24 feet, are two stories of lower height than the main house. Both have gabled roofs with a single chimney located in the center of the outer side walls. The two brick connecting hyphens or curtains, each 19 x 19 feet, are of one story with very low attic space and are covered with gable roofs that have small dormers. The walls are decorated with brick pilasters which extend to the height of the windows where they visibly support the brick stringcourse. The roof of the central unit is dormered on the rear, or river elevation and on the ends. The brick walls of the main house are laid in Flemish bond and the walls of the wings and hyphens are laid in running bond. The central unit has a rolled brick water table and a belt course at the second floor level. Over this unit rises two high, arched and vaulted chimneys, somewhat reminiscent of the more massive stacks at Stafford, Virginia (1725–1730). The north or land façade of Tulip Hill is particularly interesting because of its somewhat experimental approach to late Georgian formality. There is a central pediment but no projecting pavilion beneath it. A round window with unusual flanking decorative panels adorns the pediment, and the main cornice is modillion in front only. The center door is topped by a rectangular transom, sheltered by a one-story portico that was probably added about 1787–1790. The pediment of the porch, supported by four columns, contains a carved figure of Cupid. The brick wall between the end pilasters of the portico is plastered and painted. Over the rear center door is an interesting cantilevered hood carried on boldly projecting carved consoles, plastered inside its arched head and adorned by curious crockets on its raking cornices. It has a carved conventionalized tulip as its finial. This recalls, in a more elaborate form, the plainer town pents used over many doorways in Philadelphia. Windows on both floors of the central block have nine over nine light sashes, but those on the second floor are reduced in height.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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