UPDATE 2021: This is bonus content on Skyline; the longer, overall article on this line of buildings was included in my book on OO.

Ed Havens has a bit more information for us on the Skyline Washington’s headquarters building. First, here again is the description in the 1948 Skyline catalog.

No. 656. All Gauge Farm House. Exact model of Washington’s Valley Forge Headquarters. Pinkish rubble stone walls, brown roof. 8 1/4″ x 5″ x 4 1/2″ high. Price $1.00 each.

One important point then is they marketed it as a farm house but also say it is an exact model of Washington’s Valley Forge headquarters building. Is it, or did they maybe fib a bit for purposes of marketing? I will turn the rest of this post over to Ed, thank you for your looking into this further.

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After re-reading your American OO Today post on Skyline buildings, I decided to do some further Internet research about the prototype. I am led to conclude — based on photos and painting of General Washington’s various headquarters buildings in the Philadelphia era during the campaign against the British — that Skyline took some artistic license and made a composite (or perhaps the Shoenhut firm did before Skyline bought out their product line).

What’s interesting is that the stone on the Skyline Washington HQ is pinkish. In actuality, there was no such pink stone among any of the actual buildings used by the general.

Here is Chadds Ford:
http://tinyurl.com/aufuup

And the back of the same building:
http://tinyurl.com/bz3k3l

Here is Valley Forge:
http://tinyurl.com/bhdjb5

And Whitemarsh:
http://tinyurl.com/crsbvv

Another Washington HQ was at Neshaminy:
http://tinyurl.com/c47pxs

I attached the set of four photos of the Skyline building for comparison. [two views are included with this post–John].

The only differently colored stone in the Philadelphia area — aside from the brown or gray appearance of most stone building materials — was serpentine rock, which had a greenish to olive cast. [More information on this stone may be found here.]

One of my projects in a high school art class was to sketch a serpentine faced house in Media, Pa. The teacher took the class on a walking field trip near the school and everyone got to choose some subject to sketch.

The serpentine house was nicely done with gray Mansard roof, and green wooden trim. I have yet to find any pinkish stone that would replicate the Skyline model.