George C. Longest

Abstract for "The Green Gate of Genius: Charles F. Gillette and the Changing Face of Virginia--An Illustrated Lecture"

Beginning with his move from the Boston studio of Warren Manning to Richmond, Virginia, in 1914, Charles F. Gillette changed the face of Virginia, creating a distinctly "Southern" look in his interpretation of natural setting and rendering what today most visitors and many natives see as "Virginia."

Gillette's greatest private garden designs coincided with the golden years of the Country Place Movement, a period when affluent Americans built elaborate country homes with extensive gardens meticulously planned to make bold, dramatic statements in their pyrotechnical exuberance. As soon as Gillette established himself in his own offices in Richmond, breaking away from Manning and the studio tradition, he became immediately popular with Georgian revival architects like William Laurence Bottomley and subsequently with the founding members of the Garden Club of Virginia for whom he offered numerous "interpretations" of historic properties, including "Kenmore" and "Lee Chapel." His major central Virginia designs include tenth-century Virginia House, Elizabethan Agecroft Hall, Nordley, Canterbury, Milburne, Redesdale, and Lochiel.

The paradigm from which Gillette worked required absolute attention to detail, dramatic architectonics, and a unique fusion of grounds, edifice, and client. His greatest gift in plantings was the imaginative use of native and imported materials, his knowledge of European media coming from his study abroad in 1914. By 1938 Gillette's work was honored by the Architectural League of New York for its "charm and adherence to the Southern tradition."

With the implementation of inheritance taxes and a graduated income tax in America, the Country Place movement came to an end, and Gillette focused on broader interests, including educational, religious, business, and government projects. Highlighting his work after the Great Depression are the Governor's Mansion in Richmond, the Ethyl Corporation headquarters building on the banks of the James River in Richmond, and the Davidson College campus in North Carolina.

In this illustrated discussion outlining the architect's life and career (click on the links below to view selected illustrations), Dr. Longest offers a sensitive portrait of a gifted American artist who was at once cultured and charming, moralistic and generous to a fault, open and irritable, gracious and opinionated. Longest unravels the process through which Gillette--who always demanded perfection in himself, his associates, and his art--established a distinctive regional style and set a tradition of quality and professional conduct that became the standard in his field.

The Park at Agecroft Hall (Richmond)

The Enclosed Garden at Redesale (Richmond)

Raws Family Home (Franklin, Virginia)

The Governor's Mansion Garden (Richmond)

The Pond at Little Alton (Orange, Virginia)