Download or read book Prodigy Houses of Virginia written by Barbara Burlison Mooney and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction : "An art which shews so much" -- Defining the prodigy house : architectural aesthetics and the colonial dialect -- "Blind stupid fortune" : profiling the architectural patron -- "Reason reascends her throne" : the impact of dowry -- "Each rascal will be a director" : architectural patrons and the building process -- Learning to become "good mechanics in building" -- Epistemologies of female space : early Tidewater mansions -- Political power and the limits of genteel architecture