page_title: George Crossman House
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: George Crossman House / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: English: When the sun shines against these carvings on the eaves of Crossman House it creates the illusion of flying birds.
context_page_description: George Crossman House is an historic home located in the East Falls Church section of Arlington, Virginia. It was built in 1892 by George Grant Crossman for his bride Mary Ellen Dodge of Lewinsville, VA. They married on April 7, 1892.
  The house was once part of a 60-acre dairy farm in what was then rural Northern Virginia. The Crossman Farm's dairy products were sold to local neighbors as well as to the Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers Association. The Crossman's son William helped operate the farm and later assumed ownership and management of the house and dairy operation, which was one of the last dairy farms in Arlington County.
  The house is located in the section of Falls Church that broke off in 1936 to become the East Falls Church neighborhood of Arlington County. The Crossman Farm property included the house and several outbuildings, including two barns which no longer exist. The street running in front of the house was known as Crossman Street until its name was changed to North Underwood Street in 1935. The dairy was closed by 1949 and the land was sold by the Crossman Family in 1954. A portion of the property became the Tuckahoe Gardens subdivision.
context_section_description: The house is two-story, four-square Late Victorian farmhouse. Although the architect of the Crossman House is unknown, it resembles the type of house that was available through mail-order catalogues in the late 19th century. The house exhibits the characteristics of both the Queen Anne and Folk Victorian styles, including the asymmetrical plan, dominant front-facing gable and use of patterned wood shingles (now asphalt), weatherboards, and projecting bays. The house sits on a fieldstone foundation and has a cross-gable roof.  It features an original wraparound front porch with turned posts and balusters.
  The house has three staircases. The railing of the main staircase which leads from the entry hall to the second level is decorated with wood squares that were originally made by the Smoot Lumber Company of Alexandria. When the staircase was restored in the 1990s, Smoot was able to locate the original saw blade to make the replacement squares. One of the most interesting and unusual features of the house is the carvings in the exterior eaves that, when the sun shines, creates shadows that make it appear as if birds are flying against the house. The house was painted white for more than 70 years. During the 2012 renovation, the removal of an area of dry wall revealed a layer of green paint on the exterior. Based on the paint discovery and an old photo, the house was recently repainted to what is believed to be more historically accurate colors.
  The Arlington County Board designated the building to be a local historic district on May 17, 1986. The National Park Service listed the house on the National Register of Historic Places on May 22, 2003
caption: One of the more unusual features of the house is the carving on the eaves. When the sun shines, the shadows create the illusion of flying birds.
exif: {"Image Tag 0x000B": "Windows Photo Editor 10.0.10011.16384", "Image ImageWidth": "4032", "Image ImageLength": "3024", "Image Make": "samsung", "Image Model": "SM-G955U", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Windows Photo Editor 10.0.10011.16384", "Image DateTime": "2018:12:08 21:23:06", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "2384", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[0, 31, 54]", "GPS GPSDate": "2018:12:09", "Image GPSInfo": "10184", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "96", "Thumbnail YResolution": "96", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "10358", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "10647", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/40", "EXIF FNumber": "17/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "160", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2018:12:08 19:31:55", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2018:12:08 19:31:55", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "5321/1000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "153/100", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "6/5", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "153/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "17/4", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4032", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3024", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "10140", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "26", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "F12QSJA00SM F12QSKB01SB", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "-886"}