A Closer Look

Exterior features of the Branch House include its perimeter wall of brick construction, wall materials of weathered brick combined with distressed and patinized briarcliff sandstone, sculpted stone motifs, sandstone door and window surrounds, chimney pots, brickwork with diamond diapering, leaded glass, carved-stone heraldry, oriel windows with cul-de-lampe corbeling resembling the conical bottom of ancient lamps), bargeboards resembling those of Compton Wynyates, inscriptions at the window heads referring to the Branch family’s arrival in Virginia during the 17th century, a tower reminiscent of that at Hampton Court Palace, and three characteristically Tudor twisted brick chimneys that resemble those found in Tudor pattern books of the period.

The interior features vaulted ceilings, curvilinear tracery featuring heraldic symbols,  heavily decorated pargeted Tudor-style plaster molding,  and modern features including fireproof concrete floors and a redundant boiler in case the primary boiler failed.  Utilizing artifacts from the Branches’ personal Renaissance collection, the house incorporated an Italian door and a carved wood gallery screen (or minstrel screen) from England.  Until Beulah Gould Branch’s death, almost every wall surface in the home’s primary rooms was covered with the couple’s collection of tapestries and textiles.

The historic style of Branch House has been variously reported as Tudor, Tudor Revival, Tudor-Jacobean or Domestic Tudor. The 1984 application to the National Register of Historic Places noted that the design “incorporated salient features from several 16th-century English country houses to form a convincingly correct assemblage of design elements,” adding that “to maintain the illusion of age, the architect had the building materials distressed and aged to add patina to the image of power and pedigree” and furthermore that “barons of American industry, finance, and culture, such as Branch, appropriated the traditions of English domestic architecture as a way of asserting a noble lineage for their class.”

Like Compton Wynyates, the Branch House features linenfold paneling inside and exterior half-timbering and brick diapering, along with oriel and casement windows with leaded glass.