Located in Fairfax County on the highest point of rolling, wooded hills above the Potomac River, Bois Doré, completed in 1951, is important for its architecture and its two designers: Thomas Tileston Waterman, a prominent architectural historian and preservationist, and William Max Haussmann, the chief architect of the National Park Service Capital Region between 1952 and 1963. Haussmann and Waterman, notable players in the field of architecture and architectural history, contributed to the practice of historic restoration and to the direct preservation of historic structures, particularly on the East Coast. After Washington socialite Karen Gram Scott commissioned the project, Waterman designed an H-shaped, French Villa-style house and two-car garage with living quarters on the second floor. Since Waterman was not a licensed architect as required by Virginia state building codes, he collaborated with Haussmann, with whom he had worked for several decades. Haussmann became the architect of record for the project and completed the designs in 1950. Bois Doré remains much as Waterman and Haussmann designed it, with original exterior finishes and interior flooring, woodwork, fireplaces, and plaster walls.