The great architectural significance of Albemarle County and Charlottesville, Virginia, rests, not surprisingly, on the continuing influence of Thomas Jefferson. Not only did Jefferson design the State Capitol in Richmond, his home Monticello, his country retreat Poplar Forest, and the University of Virginia; after his death, master builders continued to construct important examples of Jeffersonian classicism in Albemarle County and beyond.
But what is less well known are the many important examples of other architectural idioms built in this Piedmont Virginia county, many 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 Charlottesville area. Grand new buildings complemented and competed with the Jeffersonian models of a hundred years earlier. In addition, throughout its history Albemarle County has seen construction of a great variety of public architectural landmarks: mills and churches, movie theaters and hospitals, gas stations and taverns.
For many years K. Edward Lay has been teaching, guiding tours of, and writing about this rich architectural legacy. Here at last is his definitive treatment of a topic that has been his life's work, presented in an elegantly illustrated volume. Following a general introduction by John S. Salmon, 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)." He discusses over 800 buildings, from a Sears house to grand estates, the Abell-Gleason house and the Albemarle County Jail to Wavertree Hall and Zion Baptist Church, 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.
Available to supplement The Architecture of Jefferson Country is a comprehensive CD-ROM inventory of over 3,000 images identified with 2,400 buildings. The CD-ROM allows its user to scroll through county and town maps and click on important buildings to access individual records. The records, drawings, and photographs are searchable by building type or characteristic, surname, or other keyword. As an important bonus the CD-ROM includes the 1907 Massie Map of the county, a large, detailed wall map showing historical data and the locations of buildings. The map is definitively indexed and has never been reproduced since its origin.
With the CD-ROM or alone as an elegant giftbook or reference, The Architecture of Jefferson Country gives architects, historians, visitors, and residents an unprecedented view of the wealth of buildings in Charlottesville and Albemarle County.
The Manuscript:
The CD-ROM contains the complete text and figures of K. Edward Lay's recent book of the same title from the University Press of Virginia.
The Database:
The database is a searchable inventory of 2,409 structures illustrated with 3,359 images. An illustrated glossary of terms complements the database information.
The Massie Map:
Published in 1907 by Frank Massie, the highly detailed map of Albemarle County that bears his name has been indexed allowing users to search for family names, geographical and historical information.
Reviews:
William Seale, author of The President's House: "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 greatest examples of the building arts."
Richard Guy Wilson, author of Thomas Jefferson's Academical Village: The
Creation of an Architectural Masterpiece and coauthor of The Making of Virginia
Architecture: "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' 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."
Catherine Bishir, author of North Carolina Architecture: "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, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: "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."
K. Edward Lay is Cary D. Langhorne Professor of Architecture Emeritus at the University of Virginia.
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