Reynolda: A History of an American Country House

Reynolda: A History of an American Country House by Mayer, Barbara. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780895871558.

At its completion in 1917, Reynolda was a leading example of the country house movement. The 70-room structure was the center of a 1,067-acre estate encompassing a working farm and a village with its own church, post office, and school_all this to serve the six members of the R. J. Reynolds family. But events did not proceed exactly as planned. R. J. Reynolds barely lived to inhabit his house, and his wife, Katharine, was dead by 1924. The house saw the marriages of Mary and Nancy Reynolds, but it also saw the mysterious shooting death of Z. Smith Reynolds. By the mid-1950s, Reynolda House needed a transformation in order to survive. This book traces the history of the estate from its conception through its latter-day adaptation to a changing world_the commercial development of Reynolda Village and the rebirth of Reynolda House as a museum of American art. It is a story of early magnificence and survival and a celebration of an important cultural center.