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Preservation Case Study: Reynolda After the death of Katharine Reynolds Johnston in 1924, her visionary model farm project on the 1,000-acre estate purchased with her first husband, tobacco magnate R. J. Reynolds, did not survive. (Catherine Howett describes this ambitious enterprise in A World of Her Own Making: Katharine Smith Reynolds and the Landscape of Reynolda.) Beginning in the 1940s, the descendants of R. J. and Katharine Reynolds sold parcels of their Reynolda estate land to private owners and gradually donated most of the property to educational institutions, primarily Wake Forest University. In 1946 a Reynolds family foundation gave Wake Forest University a large donation and 350 acres to build a campus. In time, family members also donated Reynolda Village and the formal Reynolda Gardens to the university, a gift comprising gardens, greenhouses, many original barns and outbuildings, and 125 acres of wetlands, woods, and fields. In 1964 the family of Charles H. and Mary Reynolds Babcock incorporated Reynolda House into a nonprofit organization that became Reynolda House, Museum of American Art, with Barbara Babcock Millhouse as president of its board of directors. The museum, on 19 acres of surrounding land, remained independent until 2002, when it became affiliated with Wake Forest University. Today, the Reynolda landscape is in a state of guided change. The three chief parcels of the original estate, about 177 acres in all, were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. All but one of the thirty original support buildings still stand, although Reynolda Village, formerly home to the farm employees, now houses shops, offices, and restaurants. The university rehabilitated Reynolda Gardens, a popular visitor attraction, in 1998, and Reynolda House opened a new exhibition wing in 2005. Chet Thomas, principal landscape architect at the Jaeger Company of Athens, Georgia, oversaw the rehabilitation of Reynolda Gardens and the landscape design for the new wing at Reynolda House. In the gardens, designed by Philadelphia landscape architect Thomas Sears between 1917 and 1931, much of the work focused on the Greenhouse Garden, a sunken rectangle divided into quadrants by intersecting lawns; an adjoining vegetable and rose garden also received attention. A team of Jaeger and Reynolda Gardens workers repaired structures, replanted the lawns, restored grass paths, and refurbished the planting scheme in the Greenhouse Garden. When the team replaced a towering allée of cryptomeria (Cryptomeria japonica lobbii) with younger specimens and pared overgrown boxwood hedges, the garden assumed its original proportions and became easier to read and understand, says Thomas. Preston Stockton, superintendent of Reynolda Gardens, agrees: “Bringing it back as close as possible to the original plan allows the whole garden to make sense, and we get much more of a feel for when the family lived here.” Planning for the Reynolda House addition began in the late 1990s. Millhouse says the process was informed by the work on the formal gardens, as well as by consulting from LALH, The Jaeger Company, and Heritage Landscapes. “I came to realize that the landscape was as important to the interpretation of the property as the rugs on the floor,” recalls Millhouse. “The consultants identified important views and helped me see them as an extension of the house.” Millhouse expects Howett’s book will continue to excite interest in the property and its visionary founder. “It is so moving that it can’t help but create a sense of admiration for Katharine Reynolds,” she says. For her part, Howett hopes the book will help visitors tune into the reforming spirit that underlies the appearance of the landscape. “The beauty,” she says, “was meant to serve a very idealistic vision.” Photographs: |
