The mansion to end all mansions

River Run Manor (shown here) is a four story, 20,000 square foot Georgian mansion located in Goochland County, Virginia overlooking the James River. Completed in 1987 after 6 years of construction, this house is known county-wide.

It was the dream house of Edith and Bill (William Blair) Massey and still resides in the Massey family.

Sitting on a 60 acre parcel of land, this house has 40 rooms, 11 baths and 5 half-baths. Its many over-the-top features include 24-karat gold fixtures, Italian marble flooring, marble baseboards, 18 feet columns with 23- karat gold Corinthian capitals, a sauna, a steam room, and 12 inch modillion block egg and dart crown molding. The house has a separate floor consisting entirely of servants' quarters and is the equivalent of a residence in itself with a kitchen, living room, with a fireplace, library, four bedrooms and two baths. In addition, River Run Manor has a lower ballroom that can seat 150 people for dinner. Features in this 24’ x 39’ ballroom include a Waterford-style chandelier of antique Strauss crystals, handcrafted red oak spiral staircase and balcony , Louis XV carved marble fireplace and 24 feet from floor to ceiling. It was built by Taylor & Parrish (T&P), a contractor who frequently ordered millwork from Beckstoffer's.

For the Mill it represented the largest millwork job for a private residence they ever did and one of the largest 2 or 3 jobs in its history. While reviewing the 45 page order sheet, I ran across a diverse mix of materials such as heart pine, red wood, walnut, red oak and cedar. The first order for millwork was placed by T&P in October 1984 and orders came through the rest of 1984 and then sporadically in 1985 and 1986. All told, Beckstoffers produced $658,039 in millwork for the Massey house and the Massey job represented almost 30% of all sales in 1984 and just under 15% of sales in 1985.