HI.... Yesterday I bought a book called: Longwood: A New Idea by William L. Whitewell, University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, copyright 1975 ........ I worked in Natchez, Mississippi for four years and lived on the Louisiana side of the Mississippi River. While there, I toured a lot of the old homes, went on tours, etc. The one house that was ALWAYS my favorite was called the LONGWOOD.........and...I was allways soooooo amazed at the architectical design. It was so far ahead of it's time ..... especially in the south. It was like no other of the old homes in the area. Sadly, the house was never finished because one day in April 1861, the construction of the Longwood stoppped. The Civil War drove Dr. Nutt (the owner) skilled artisans away from Mississippi back to their homes in Philadelphia. This rush was necessary while transportation was still available to return home. The local workers also had to halt their work because they rushed to the Confederate cause. The Longwood House .... today.... stands essentially as it was left in 1861 ....the tools dropped by the frightened workers still lying where they fell....... This place was an unfulfilled dream.....an architectural curiosity....two miles from downtown Natchez, Mississippi. Dr. Haller Nutt..... was a cotton planter, a physician, and a scientist..... He was both wealthy and cultured...... As I have stated, I have visited this home more times than I can remember.....there is something that has kept drawing me back there. The architectural design was just so different from the other homes.....and....after buying this book yesterday...I know have learned some of the reasons ..... Nutt's vision began with his perusal of The Model Architect, SAMUEL SLOAN's book of house designs published in 1852. The 49th design was "An Oriental Villa". Samuel SLOAN wrote that this particular style of architecture was not widely known in the US and had not been adopted for any public buildings and for onlly a few residences. He noted that such a villa should be of generous size. The book stated that Nutt's imagination must have been stimulated as he read: "There are, however, some cases where thee objections are of little force; and many persons, contemplating building, seek for a design, at once original, striking, appropriate and picturesque." SLOAN continued with a lengthy description of the origins of the style going from the "Arabians" via the Gothic to Spain, "Cordova and the Alhambra as described by Irving," ................... Basically the house is an octagonal house. SAMUEL SLOAN did not origniate the octagonal house; buit, he ranked among the leaders of a minor movement to refine the concept behind it and make it practical. Haller Nutt and his wife, Julia Augusta Williams, seem to have sought out SLOAN during one of their trips north to visit their daughters. It was stated that SLOAN must have been impressed by the plantation owner's grand ways. NOTE: Dr. Nutt died at the age of 48 (1864) from pneumonia. He and Julia had eleven children..... Julia Nutt lived and died at Longwood in 1897.. A daughter, also named Julia Nutt (never married) lived in the house until 1932 when she died.. A grandson, Werritt Williams Ward, lived in the house until his death in 1939. In 1963, slighly more than 104 years after the death of Haller Nutt, three of his grandchildren sold Longwood to mr. and mrs. Kelly E. McAdams of Austin, Texas. In January, 1970, through the McAdams Foundation, Longwood was deeded over to the Pilgrimage Garden Club of Natchez in order that the structure might be preserved along with other famous Natchez buildings in the club's care. The book goes on with more detail about SAMUEL SLOAN and his influence on architectural designs..... There were about 45 letters concerning Longwood passed between SLOAN and Dr. Nutt in the period 1860-61. The architect's communications usually arrived on his business letter head. SLOAN's stationery gave not onlly his address, 152 South Fourth Street, Philadeloopha, but listed three of his writings on architecture as well --"Sloan's City and Suburban Architecture", "Sloan's Constructive Architecture", and "Model Architect". In May, 1861, the correspondence began to reflect the disruption in communications occasioned by the war. In a letter written in June, SLOAN remarked that he had not heard from Dr. Nutt in four weeks, though letters between the two customarily reached their destinations in a week or less. Correspondence soon after halted altogether. The SLOAN-Nutt letters have been preserved in the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. I wrote the above to give a preface to the intense design that SAMUEL SLOAN created...... I know it's impossible for me to *paint* a picture of the house and the designs.... but.... I have always been so impressed with the house...and...now since I have the book .... I feel this other type of impression...... The man was a SLOAN!!!!!!!!! I do not have any idea who SAMUEL SLOAN's lines are....but...maybe this will be mine someday and if not...he may belong to one of you... The book was $12.95 at Books-A-Million...... Hope this helps someone.... Kaite...