Rose Hill, 1939
This 1939 photograph shows Rose Hill much as owner John Hipkins Bernard would have known it in the early 1800s. Vines clamber across the porch at the entrance to the house, the columns are reassuringly stout, working shutters flank the six-over-six windows, and the painted clapboard siding is likely original.
Rose Hill, 1977
Bernard’s descendants rebuilt the house as closely as their budget would allow, though certain details were lost in the translation as seen in this 1977 image. The shutters vanished, for example, and the crisp clapboard was replaced with a coat of painted stucco. The porch’s columns were simplified, and the turned-wood balustrades between them were apparently deemed too costly to reproduce.
Rose Hill, 1959
A fire devastated Rose Hill in 1959, leaving little more than its charred chimneys and columns standing.
Rose Hill, 2011
Current owners Billings and John Cay’s 2011 renovation —done in collaboration with Fredericksburg, Virginia’s Tidewater Preservation and interior designer Amelia T. Handegan of Charleston, South Carolina—has revived Rose Hill’s historic good looks, right down to the installation of replica balustrades and working shutters.
Rose Hill, Dining Room, 1939
Water damage had undermined Rose Hill’s dining room by 1939, ruining the 19th-century French wallpaper and affecting the plaster ceiling. Above the mantel hangs a Bernard family portrait; the fire screen appears to contain a panel of Art Nouveau wallpaper, applied horizontally rather than vertically.
Rose Hill, Dining Room Turned Bedroom, 1977
After the fire, the dining space was rebuilt as a bedroom, as this 1977 photograph illustrates. The mantel was simplified, and vintage wallpaper panels replaced the 19th-century originals.
Rose Hill, Dining Room, 1959
The house’s chimney following the fire of 1959.
Rose Hill, Dining Room, 2011
The space was converted back into a dining room during the 2011 restoration, complete with pilasters and wainscot that replicate the originals. The early-19th-century white marble fireplace was re-created, too, based on historic photographs as well as fragments of stone that helped identify the precise marble that was used.
Rose Hill, Entrance Hall, 1941
Victorian furnishings had crept into Rose Hill by the mid-19th century, as this 1941 image of the entrance hall attests. Water damage and shifting plasterwork had begun to split and discolor the 19th-century scenic wallpaper, while, in the background, a sprig-patterned wall covering surrounds the doorway to a music room.
Rose Hill, Entrance Hall, 2008
The entrance hall in 2008 displays the changes made following the 1959 fire. The arch was removed and the passage opened up, the wallpapers and cornices were left out, and a basic molding was used to create a chair rail.
Rose Hill, Entrance Hall, 2011
The entrance hall in 2011, showcasing the effects of the Cays’ restoration, which included reproducing the original woodwork and bringing back the grace seen in Rose Hill’s earliest architecture.
Rose Hill, Music Room, 1920
Following his 1816 marriage to Jane Gay Robertson, a descendant of Pocahontas, Bernard constructed an octagonal music room at the rear of the house.
Rose Hill, Music Room, 1950
By 1950, the music room had been hung with a trompe l’oeil wallpaper that mimicked buttoned silk or satin. The original piano and harp were augmented with Victorian furniture, among them a Belter-like sofa and a tête-à-tête three-seat chair.
Rose Hill, Music Room, 2011
The Cays’ elegant reconstruction of the music room, before the furnishings had been installed. The windows flanking the fireplace can be raised and the lower sections opened, to access the terrace. Amelia T. Handegan, who had previously worked with the couple on another home, designed the painted floor to enhance the room’s octagonal contours.
Rose Hill, Music Room, 1959
The foundation and chimney were all that remained of the music room after the 1959 fire; this part of the house was not reconstructed by Bernard’s descendants.