The
Architecture of Jefferson Country: Charlottesville and Albemarle County,
Virginia
K. Edward Lay
The architectural significance of
Albemarle County and Charlottesville rests on the continuing influence of
Thomas Jefferson and his artistic achievements in his native county and
elsewhere: the Richmond Capitol, his home Monticello, his Bedford County
retreat Poplar Forest, and the University of Virginia. It is further supported
by the many examples of Jeffersonian classicism later constructed by his master
builders within the county's borders as well as beyond them. Still later,
examples of other architectural idioms were built here--some were important
works by nationally renowned architects. At the turn of the twentieth century,
the renewed interest of wealthy clients in eclectic architectural styles
attracted some of the finest Beaux Arts architects in the country to the
county. Grand new buildings complemented and competed with the Jeffersonian
models of a hundred years earlier. With the establishment of the School of
Architecture at the University of Virginia in 1919 under Fiske Kimball,
"the dean of American architectural history," the institution
produced architects trained in historical styles, and many of them practiced
locally as well as nationally. Consequently, this book constitutes an unusually
rich microcosm of the major national architectural styles as well as the
original models upon which they were based.
Lay divides his book into six chronological chapters: "The Georgian
Period," "Thomas Jefferson and His Builders," "The Roman
Revival (1800-1830)," "The Greek Revival (1830-1860),"
"Beyond the Classical Revival," and "The Eclectic Era
(1890-1939)." In the 378-page book, he discusses over 800 buildings, from Sears houses to grand estates with 26 color photographs and
369 black-and-white illustrations complementing his text. A final chapter
discusses the University of Virginia. Maps of the area allow readers and
visitors to trace the locations of individual buildings and to recognize trends
of settlement and construction in the area.
CD_ROM no longer available:
Published n 2001 to supplement the hard-bound book of The Architecture of
Jefferson Country was a CD-ROM that included the book manuscript along with
a comprehensive inventory of 2,409 buildings illustrated with 3,359 images. The
records, drawings, and photographs are searchable by building type or
characteristic, surname, or other keyword along with an illustrated glossary.
As an important bonus, the CD-ROM included the 1907 Massie Map of the county, a
large, detailed wall map showing historical data and the locations of
buildings. The map was searchable, definitively indexed, and had never been
reproduced since its origin.
Even though the manuscript pertains to a specific Virginia county, the impact
of the work of Jefferson and his master builders and the work of faculty at the
University of Virginia makes it of national interest.
TO ORDER THE BOOK:
University Press of Virginia
Box 3608 University Station,
Charlottesville, VA 22903-0608
(www.upress.virginia.edu; Marketing
804-924-6064, <mhs5u@virginia.edu>)
$49.95 + shipping and handling + Va sales tax
Also can be purchased twww.amazon.com
at 30% discount + handling
REVIEWS
Richard Guy Wilson, Chair of UVA
Architectural History, TV commentor of America's
Castles, author of Thomas Jefferson's Academical
Village,The
Making of Virginia Architecture, and Buildings of Virginia:
"The Architecture of Jefferson
Country is an amazing compendium of research and documentation and a model
study of a county's architectural legacy. Albemarle County's architecture
mirrors national trends, but also from its soil sprang some of the United States's most refined and historically significant
creations and styles. From Thomas Jefferson's important essays at Monticello and
the University of Virginia to the sophisticated work of twentieth century
Colonial Revivalists, Albemarle County and Charlottesville contain critically
important architecture of interest to the entire nation, indeed to the
world."
William Seale, author of The
President's House:
"I've read Ed Lay's book (I'm
glad you sent the footnotes as well) and it is a delight. Not burdened with
mere description, it is an architectural history and a history as well. I
really enjoyed this book -- great detail. Professor K. Edward Lay gives us not
only a splendid county architectural history but a rich and detailed local
context for Jefferson's Monticello and the University of Virginia, which he
rightly calls 'two of the world's great examples of the building arts'."
Catherine Bishir,
author of North Carolina Architecture:
"This is a very informative and
handsome book, and I look forward to seeing it in print. In The Architecture of
Jefferson Country, Professor Lay draws upon decades of fieldwork and research
to provide a detailed portrait of the architectural riches of Albemarle County
and Charlottesville. The generous illustrations -- old and
new photographs, and drawings of floor plans and architectural features
-- demonstrate the quality and diversity of local building from the eighteenth
century into the twentieth, with special emphasis on the nineteenth century.
Clearly, Monticello and the University of Virginia are stars in a remarkable
constellation."
Michael Dennis, MIT, author of Court
and Garden:
"Thomas Jefferson is as
significant to Charlottesville and the United States as Palladio to Vicenza and
Italy. This welcome study expands and deepens our understanding of our most
important American architect."
Virginia Quarterly Review:
"This is a definitive and exemplary
treatment of a county architectural history. Lay serves up site plans, floor
plans, elevations, and lavish illustrations that capture the essence of more
than 250 years of architectural evolution in public and private architecture
that reflects our national building history. Going beyond Jeffersonian
classicism, the wonderful eclectic collection of architecture that peacefully
coexists within Jefferson country is revealed. A must for the
student of American architectural history."
Journal of the Society of
Architectural Historians:
"A comprehensive, fully
illustrated, well-written, and detailed survey of the area's rich architectural
heritage, it makes it obvious that there is a great deal more to see in
Virginia's Albemarle County than Monticello and the University of Virginia. It
is a lifetime of his own and his University of
Virginia students' research. Lay has succeeded in drawing the audience's
attention, not away from the monuments that have become cliches
of the Albemarle landscape, but to the greater architectural canvas of which
they are a part."
Virginia Libraries:
"A bounty of images illustrates
this work, drawing on a variety of sources including period and contemporary
photographs, sketches, field notes, color plates, and architectural drawings. A
compilation of these images by themselves would mark a milestone in the
documentation of Albemarle County. Attempting an architectural history that
embraces a spectrum of structures from a chicken coop to Jefferson's Rotunda at
the University of Virginia is an ambitious undertaking. This account of
Albemarle County's architectural heritage rises to the challenge, providing an
important tool for both the local history enthusiast and the serious scholar of
Virginia history. Professor K. Edward Lay gives us not only a splendid county
architectural history but a rich and detailed local context for Jefferson's
Monticello and the University of Virginia, which he rightly calls 'two of the
world's great examples of the building arts'."
UVA Alumni News:
"Grounded in decades of research
and field work, the book provides many glimpses of the business of building and
gives the reader an unprecedented view of the rich architectural legacy of the
piedmont. It is not dryly academic like many scholarly tomes, but has a more
intellectual heft than a coffee-table book. Numerous illustrations make it a
valuable reference."
Marilyn Casto,
Virginia Tech University, in Vernacular Architecture Forum:
"This well-written book provides
an excellent overview of Albemarle County's architecture. Given the breath of
its subject, it offers a good depiction of building types common to other areas
of Virginia. The well-organized format treats the subject topically [and]
offers the background social, economic, and political environments in which the
structures existed. His book, drawn from his own extensive files on the
county's architecture, specifically discusses over 800 buildings from a
database of around 2300. [It] offers a fine example of the breath of building
that once existed in a small area and a reminder that many small communities
have experienced a considerable quantity of architectural history extending
well beyond famous buildings and equally worthy of investigation."
Send E-Mail to K. Edward Lay.
Last Modified: 3 October 2012