The Redlands estate is at Carter’s Bridge, near Charlottesville, Virginia. All photos here taken in 1933, by Frances Benjamin Johnston, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Redlands is one of many Virginia houses associated with the descendants of Robert “King” Carter. It is still owned by members of the Carter family and is open to the public during Historic Garden Week in the spring.
Rose Hill, Yanceyville, North Carolina, 1938, by Frances Benjamin Johnston, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
I like to imagine that front door as yellow.
The house still stands and continues to be owned by the Brown family, who built it in 1800.
You can view larger versions of these photos by clicking on ‘Continue reading’ and then on either thumbnail in the gallery.
Nothing moves in boxwood
where gray soldiers lie.— Dave Smith, from “Winesaps“
Above: View from the porch of the Flanders Callaway House, Warren County, Missouri, 1938, by Charles or Alexander Piaget, working with Charles van Ravenswaay (later incorporated into a 1985 HABS).*
All photos here via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Above: “View from White House porch [looking north to Lafayette Park],” Washington, D.C., 1920, from National Photo Company Collection. President and Mrs. Wilson introduced sheep to the White House lawn. The wool went to the Red Cross.
Above: View from porch at Shady Rest Sanatorium, White Heath, Illinois, ca. 1920 – 1950, by Theodor Horydczak.
Above: Looking north from the porch of the Kolb-Pou-Newton House [or Boxwood], Madison, Georgia, June 1936, by L. D. Andrew for HABS.
Above: View of garden from the porch – Oakland Plantation, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, ca. 1988, by HABS.
Above: Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Dickbrader and Mr. Arcularius on the porch of the Dickbrader House, Franklin County, Missouri, by HABS.
Above: John Calvin Owings House, Laurens, South Carolina, by HABS.
Above: View from the veranda of the Billings Farm and Museum to Blake Hill, Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, Woodstock, Vermont, 2001, by David W. Haas for HABS.
Above: Porch of Smithcliffs House, North Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, California, by HABS.
Above: “View from north porch, looking northeast toward Fort George River – Kingsley Plantation House,” Jacksonville, Florida, 1005, by Jack Boucher for HABS.
Above: “View from north porch looking south into Back Hall, with Reception Hall south door open [and closed] – Homewood (cropped slightly by me),” Baltimore, Maryland, 2005, by James W. Rosenthal for HABS.
*Historic American Building Survey
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a whole greenhouse devoted to growing violets for the house during the cold weather months?
Or orchids and palms?
Frances Benjamin Johnston took the above photographs (except one) in 1889 and 1890.
Or azaleas?
A large conservatory complex occupied the west side of the White House from 1857. . .
until 1902, when the West Wing was built.
All photos above via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Four more winter gardens are here.
The perfect loveliness that God has made,—
Wild violets shy and Heaven-mounting dreams.— Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson, from “Sonnet“
“Glover House, Washington, D.C.(?),” c. 1900, a cyanotype by Frances Benjamin Johnston, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
I haven’t been able to find out anything certain about Glover House. It seems possible that it was the home of Charles Carroll Glover, who purchased and then donated the land for Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C., in the 1870s. (He lived at “Westover,” at 4300 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., which is now a modern townhouse development.)
He and Johnston moved in the same social circles at the turn of the 19th century. As part of her photography business, she took pictures of the homes of many wealthy Washingtonians (and the White House).
Three more winter gardens are here.
The palm at the end of the mind,
Beyond the last thought, rises
In the bronze decor. . .— Wallace Stevens, from “Of Mere Being“
enclos*ure 