The Mary Jane Dogan House: Rebuilding from the Ruins of Second Manassas

The Mary Jane Dogan House stands near Manassas Park, Virginia. It was built between 1878 and 1880 for Mary Jane Dogan by the noted Alexandria builder Alexander Lyles, in the vernacular I-house form.

A house made from the past

The Dogan House speaks to the reversal of fortune many Southern farm families suffered after the Civil War. Groveton, where it stands, was the scene of the Second Battle of Manassas. Most houses and farm buildings there were damaged or burned, crops and livestock were seized, and the farmland around was trampled. Many residents rebuilt with whatever remained of their old buildings.

That is what happened here. Parts of the house appear to reuse pieces of an old tavern and storehouse that Mary Jane Dogan received in 1855 from the estate of her father, William Henry Dogan, as part of his Peach Grove plantation. The 700-acre plantation once included a fine stone house, outbuildings and commercial ventures; today only its log-and-frame overseer's house survives.

A still from the animation made from 3D scans of the house. National Park Service.

Documenting the house

In winter and spring 2019–20, the Park Service's Heritage Documentation Programs recorded the house for the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS). The work was sponsored by the Park Service's Historic Preservation Training Center, with Manassas National Battlefield Park, as part of a Historic Structure Report, and will support that report and the house's rehabilitation.

HABS architects Paul Davidson and Daniel De Sousa and HALS architect Ryan Pierce did the field recording and measured drawings; Jarob J. Ortiz took large-format digital photographs; and Catherine C. Lavoie, chief of HABS, wrote the historical report. Pierce also made an animation from the same 3D scans used to produce the architectural drawings, giving an inside look at the structure during investigation and early stabilization. The animation has no narration and is best watched in high definition.

An elevation drawing from the Historic American Buildings Survey documentation, archived at the Library of Congress.

Sources

• National Park Service, Heritage Documentation Programs, "Mary Jane Dogan House Virtual Visit." https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/dogan-house-visit.htm
• Animation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNm9sePcl9s; HABS documentation at the Library of Congress: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.va2381