|
|
|
Fun Facts
Building Details
- Architect:
Stan Ohman of Port Orchard, Washington
- Artists
and designers: dozens of artists and miniaturists from Washington
state
- Time to
build: 4,500 hours over five years
- Cost: over
$500,000
- Size, weight
and scale: 10 feet long, eight and a half feet high and six feet
wide with 22 rooms; over 1100 pounds; 1 inch = 1 foot
- Colors:
match the original colors at Mount Vernon
- Number of
roof shingles: 16,000, each 1½ inches long
- Built in
air-control system
- Roof and
two sides can be raised and lowered for maximum viewing
Interior Details
- The door
knobs on the 8 exterior and 36 interior doors turn, the latches
latch, the 58 windows open and close, the candles and 13 fireplaces
light, the door knocker knocks, and the drawers open.
- 20 Windsor
chairs are on the Piazza.
- There are
116 seating forms including one sofa, 13 beds, 30 Windsor chairs,
eight ladder back chairs, 24 Aitken chairs, one easy chair, one
Louis XVI chair, one fan chair, and several federal and Chippendale-style
chairs.
- The telescope
in the study actually works.
- The Mount
Vernon dining rooms are fully furnished with silver including
a set of 18 knives, forks, and spoons, and dessert spoons totaling
48 pieces that weigh less than 1/10 of an ounce and are styled
like the original silver with the pistol grip.
- The rug
in the small dining room is done in 1/12th scale and took over
500 hours of needlepoint in a 24-stitch count.
- The study
includes busts of George Washington and John Paul Jones.
- Tables have
actual carved inlay, not a replicated paint finish.
- The blue
and white canton china was hand-painted with a mouse whisker.
- The presidential
chair swivels just like the real one.
- The globe
was created using a modern decoupage which was very similar to
the original treatment.
- The miniature
nameplate on the trunk in Washington's study has George Washington's
full signature etched in it and is smaller than 1/8 of an inch.
- The miniature
fan chair works just like the real one - the foot pedal moves
up and down causing the fan to swing back and forth.
- The small
dining room provides six nut picks made of steel with ivory handles.
Washington's deerskin trunk
has been replicated, down to the engraved copper plate, about
1/8 of an inch. (Photo by H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY)
|
|
A view of the parlor from
a miniature model of Mt. Vernon.
|
|
|
