Begun in 1725, the Flemish bond brick Rosewell mansion overlooking the York River was one of the most elaborate homes in the American colonies.

They had five children together, including a son named Mann Page II (1718-1778) and an infant that died in 1728, at birth.

[6] Page had intended to build a mansion to rival or exceed in size and luxury the newly completed Governor's Palace in Williamsburg.

Architectural historians believe that the 12,000-square-foot (1,100 m2) house, double the size of the Governor's Palace, may have been designed by Mann Page himself.

The lead roof was stripped off and sold, as were the mansion's carved marble mantles and much of its fine interior woodwork.

From the colonial period to the Civil War, Rosewell planters held slaves to work as field hands and as house servants: valets and personal maids, cooks and housemaids.

From the upper windows, a magnificent view is had of the surrounding level lands and the waters of the creeks and the York River.

On one of his visits, he wrote the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence in what is now known as the 'Blue Room,' situated on the northwest corner of the second story of this house.

"Rosewell was the largest and most advanced brick building in Virginia at the time," writes architectural historian Daniel Drake Reiff.

"[12]The similarity in Flemish bond brickwork between Rosewell and Christ Church, built in Lancaster County by Page's father-in-law, Robert Carter, has led some to speculate that the same masons may have worked on both.

"At Rosewell the pavilions, front and rear, are masses deep enough to affect the spaces of the interior, but a glance at the plan reveals that they were adopted for plastic exterior effect.

"[14] As originally completed, the house had a flat lead roof behind a parapet atop its three stories, and twin octagonal cupolas at each end.

In 1771 Page wrote to John Norton and Sons of London for new materials, appending these instructions: "As my house is very much out of repair, I shall be much obliged if you will send me the following articles: 100 lbs.