Gaineswood is a plantation house in Demopolis, Alabama, United States. The house was completed on the eve of the American Civil War after a construction period of almost twenty years. It is the grandest plantation house ever built in Marengo County and is one of the most significant remaining examples of Greek Revival architecture in Alabama. The house and grounds are currently operated by the Alabama Historical Commission as a historic house museum.
Gaineswood was completed in its current Greek Revival form in 1861. It is considered to be “Alabama’s finest neoclassical house” and one of America’s most unusual neoclassical mansions. Gaineswood is one of the few Greek Revival homes in the United States that uses all three of the ancient Greek architectural orders: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. Built when tastes were shifting to the Italianate style, it features a partially asymmetrical layout. Whitfield is known to have designed most of the house from pattern books by James Stuart, Minard Lafever, Nicholas Revett and others. Much of the work on the house was executed by highly skilled artisan slaves.
| 805 South Cedar Ave. Demopolis, Demopolis, AL, 334-289-4846
Demopolis, AL 36732