Accession number(s): 89.7
Object: Black-and-white photograph
Material: Gelatin silver print on photographic paper
Date: 1911-1918
Country: United States
Maker: Unknown
Provenance: L. D. Smith to Jane Burke to Jane Burke Williams to Patrick Henry Memorial Foundation
Description: This photograph shows the front (south) facade of the mansion at Red Hill as it looked in the early 20th century. The mansion is the creation of Lucy Gray Henry Harrison (1857-1944), a great-granddaughter to Patrick Henry, who inherited the estate and quickly set about expanding the house and renovating the grounds.
Mrs. Harrison hired renowned architect Charles Barton Keen to design her mansion in the Colonial Revival style. Construction began in 1907 and finished by 1911. At over 6,400 square-feet, the finished home boasted 21 rooms, gas lighting, and fashionable furnishings. Unfortunately, the mansion would stand for only eight years before fire destroyed it in February 1919.
This photograph shows Patrick Henry’s original home at the far right. The boxwood maze extending towards the foreground was planted for Henry’s daughter-in-law, Elvira McClelland Henry (1808-1875) in the 1840s.
