Colross

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Colross is a Georgian-style mansion that started as the centerpiece of a large Alexandria, Virginia, plantation on Oronoco Street. Built around 1799–1800 by merchant John Potts, it was later sold to Jonathan Swift in 1803, who continued building the house.

After Swift’s death in 1824, Colross passed to Thomson Francis Mason, a prominent judge and Alexandria mayor, who renamed the estate and made major additions, including a tall brick wall around the property. Over the 19th and early 20th centuries the area around Colross became more industrial, and the mansion saw several more owners.

During the Civil War Colross was seized by Union authorities. Local tradition speaks of executions against the brick wall and later stories of the Mason children haunting the site.

In 1929 John Munn bought Colross, dismantled it brick by brick, and moved the mansion to Princeton, New Jersey, where it was rebuilt. Princeton Day School bought it in 1958, and it has since served as the school’s administration building.

The original Alexandria site was largely buried beneath later development. In 2005, a city-mandated archaeological dig uncovered a domed brick cistern, evidence of slave outbuildings, and the foundations of walls, outbuildings, and a burial vault. Some remains were reinterred elsewhere, and the excavation offered a clearer picture of life at Colross in the early 1800s.

Architecturally, Colross is a two-story brick house with a central, five-bay front and a Neoclassical portico supported by Doric columns. It originally stood with two wings and featured a slate roof and dormers. Its design is similar to Mount Vernon and Woodlawn, reflecting the country-house style common in Virginia and Maryland.

The Colross site in Alexandria has since been developed for new construction, while the mansion itself travels to Princeton, where it remains in use as an administrative building for Princeton Day School.