A Brief History
Before the time of the great steamboats, Lyman Harding set out for Natchez from Massachusetts. Lyman found wealth and success in Natchez. Levi Weeks was employed by Harding to design and build Auburn, the first home built in Natchez according to an architectural design.
After Harding's death, Dr. Stephen Duncan and his wife, Catherine, moved into Auburn.
Besides being a Doctor of Medicine, Duncan became president of the Bank of the State of Mississippi, helped establish Trinity Episcopal Church. He expanded Auburn and even built a Greek Revival style billiards parlor next to the home for the entertainment of gentlemen.
After the Civil War, Auburn remained in the Duncan family until 1910, when Dr. Duncan's heirs donated the home and 210 adjacent acres of land to the city of Natchez, to be used as a public park. The contents of the house were sold at public auction. Few of those items would ever return to Auburn.
Levi Weeks, a young cabinetmaker, carpenter and builder who also claimed to be an architect, was employed by Lyman Harding to design and build Auburn Mansion in 1811. Weeks describes the home in a letter to a friend:
After Harding's death, Dr. Stephen Duncan and his wife, Catherine, moved into Auburn.
Besides being a Doctor of Medicine, Duncan became president of the Bank of the State of Mississippi, helped establish Trinity Episcopal Church. He expanded Auburn and even built a Greek Revival style billiards parlor next to the home for the entertainment of gentlemen.
After the Civil War, Auburn remained in the Duncan family until 1910, when Dr. Duncan's heirs donated the home and 210 adjacent acres of land to the city of Natchez, to be used as a public park. The contents of the house were sold at public auction. Few of those items would ever return to Auburn.
Levi Weeks, a young cabinetmaker, carpenter and builder who also claimed to be an architect, was employed by Lyman Harding to design and build Auburn Mansion in 1811. Weeks describes the home in a letter to a friend:
"The body of the house is 60 by 45 feet with a portico ...supported by 4 Ionic columns with the Corinthian entablature ...the house two stories with a geometrical staircase to ascend to the second story. The site is one of those peculiar situations which combines all the delight of romance, the pleasures of rurality and the approach of sublimity."
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In the 1830's, Dr. Stephen Duncan added the two symmetrical wings, which greatly expanded the interior space. These wings now hold the library and gift shop on the main floor and two of the bedrooms upstairs. The first floor also holds an office, dining room, parlor, sitting room, and large hallway. The second floor consists mostly of the four bedrooms, with another parlor and hallway. Porches set off both floors front and back.
But of course, the single most striking architecture of the home is the graceful curve of the spiral staircase, completely unsupported to the second floor. |