Benton’s dwelling house and outbuildings were the nucleus of a prosperous antebellum Northern Virginia plantation. The surviving complex includes a formal brick residence built 1831-33, complete with dependencies and a rare early brick barn. Although the Loudoun County house is architecturally conservative, the high quality of the construction reflects the skill of its builder and first owner, William Benton. Benton was an expert brickmaker and mason who served as the foreman for the building of Oak Hill, James Monroe’s Loudoun County home. He is credited with making bricks for most of the early brick houses in the Middleburg area and with supervising their construction. Except for a remodeling of the north front and some of the interior after 1908 when it was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Sands, the house has changed little since it was completed.