Shack Mountain is a historic house near Charlottesville, Virginia, designed as a tribute to Thomas Jefferson's architectural style. It was designed by and for Fiske Kimball (1881–1955), the renowned architectural historian who founded the University of Virginia School of Architecture and is credited with restoring scholarly respect for Jefferson's architectural legacy.
Location and Name
The house is situated approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) north-northwest of Charlottesville, in Albemarle County, Virginia, on a 100.9-acre (0.408 km²) tract. Its name derives from the Shackelford family, who owned and settled the property in the 18th century. Kimball had originally intended to call the house "Tusculum," but the local name "Shack Mountain" persisted.
History
Built between 1935 and 1936, Shack Mountain was intended as Kimball's retirement home. The design was based on Jefferson's plan for Farmington, a Jefferson-inspired house near Louisville, Kentucky. Kimball selected a site with commanding views of the wooded hills around Charlottesville, echoing Jefferson's own approach at Monticello.
Kimball and his wife Marie used the house primarily as a retreat, visiting mainly at Christmas and for two weeks each June. Both died in 1955. They bequeathed the property to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where Kimball had served as director. The museum subsequently sold the house to W. Bedford Moore III, a professor of engineering at the University of Virginia.
Architecture
The one-story, T-shaped house is designed in the Colonial Revival style. Key architectural features include:
- A projecting octagonal space on either side of the front facade.
- A Tuscan portico with paired stucco columns fronting the elongated side of the octagon.
- Triple-hung sash windows.
- A shallow standing-seam metal hipped roof that defers to the portico.
- Exterior balustrades in the Chinese Chippendale pattern.
- A shallow round vestibule projecting into a half-octagonal parlor, adapted from Pavilion IX at the University of Virginia.
- A dining room occupying the right side of the front octagonal volume, with a rear wing containing kitchens and bedrooms.
Designation
Shack Mountain was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 1, 1976, and was designated a National Historic Landmark on October 5, 1992, in recognition of its association with Fiske Kimball. It is also listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register (designated June 15, 1976). It joins Monticello, the Rotunda, and the University of Virginia's Academical Village as one of only a handful of National Historic Landmarks in Charlottesville and Albemarle County.
