Goodman, Virginia's most prominent post–World War II modern architect, purchased the property in 1949 and spent several years designing and modifying a Victorian farmhouse and adding a living room. He removed the front porch and gutted portions of the interior, though he reused some of the elements, such as the exterior doors, banister, and porch ceiling. The exterior of the house he encased in black prefabricated plywood, known as Texture 1–11, in one of its first uses of the material anywhere in the country. He outlined the frames of the house and the addition in white paint. His glazed living-room addition recalls the work of Mies van der Rohe (Goodman studied architecture at the Armour Institute in Chicago, which, after he left, became IIT) and the contemporary Case Study Houses of southern California. Measuring 21 feet by 34 feet, it is a glazed box. The room has a flagstone floor, large chimney mass, and extensive built-ins; it was a showplace for 1950s furniture. Each elevation is related to a season and is designed so that from both the interior and the exterior the space extends through landscaping, the flagstone terrace, stone walls, and pergolas.