Art 296i Seminar in American Architecture
The American Country House
Class Syllabus (PDF)
Luxurious country houses set in the midst of large estates and requiring sizable staffs of servants appeared in the countryside outside of American cities from the 1880s through the Stock Market Crash of 1929. The “Country House Movement” reflected the accumulation of wealth in a few families and the shift to a lifestyle devoted to entertaining, leisure, and recreation—in a sense, architecture over the top!
We will examine this architectural phenomenon as it appeared on New York’s Long Island, Philadelphia’s Main Line, and Detroit, St. Louis, and Boston. We will visit North Carolina’s Biltmore, Reynolda, Graylyn, and Winston-Salem “country” houses. The class is planned to coincide with the opening dedication of Reynolda’s new education wing in April 2005.