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Delaware » New Castle Hundred » South of New Castle » Buena Vista

Buena Vista

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1845–1847. 1930–1932 library wing, R. Brognard Okie. West side of U.S. 13, opposite Federal School Lane, 4 miles southwest of New Castle
  • (Photograph by Matthew Aungst)
  • Buena Vista (HABS)
  • (Photograph by Matthew Aungst)

Prominent Whig John M. Clayton, secretary of state under President Zachary Taylor, named his house for a victory of Taylor's in the Mexican War. The dwelling shows Greek Revival detailing grafted to a conservative five-bay, center-passage, brick form. The low-pitched roof has parapets at the ends, capped with stone; a Greek Doric piazza extends across the front. No architect has been identified. Kentucky senator Henry Clay visited Clayton here. Later, Clayton's great-nephew, Depression-era Delaware governor C. Douglass Buck, was born (1890) and died (1965) at the estate. Clayton promoted construction of the Delaware Railroad; for his part, Buck was chief architect of Delaware's highway system. Buck donated the building to the state in 1965, and it serves as a conference center. A handicapped-accessible entrance has been added (1999–2003, Bernardon Haber Holloway).

Writing Credits

Author: 
W. Barksdale Maynard
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Data

What's Nearby

John Lewden House
Shannon Hotel
Thurgood Marshall Elementary School
Delaware City Refinery (Tidewater Delaware Refinery)
Air Service Hangar

Citation

W. Barksdale Maynard, "Buena Vista", [New Castle, Delaware], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/DE-01-NC24.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Delaware

Buildings of Delaware, W. Barksdale Maynard. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2008, 164-164.

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