Reynolda House hosts "A Genius For Place"

Looking for something fabulous to do this Friday night?  Hop on down to Reynolda House and join for the opening party of "A Genius For Place" from 7 to 9 pm. Inspired by the garden parties Katharine Smith Reynolds hosted at Reynolda in the 1920s, the opening party will feature Japanese lanterns, a jazz combo playing music of the era, hors d'oeuvres, and a cash bar. As a special treat, costumed ice skaters will entertain party-goers on a synthetic pond installed in the auditorium. Visitors also may tour the main floor of the historic house.   $5; members/students free About the Exhibition Beginning in the late nineteenth century, new fortunes in the United States made it possible for many city-dwellers to commission country estates. Wealthy industrialists could work in town, and, by train or automobile, escape deteriorating urban centers to enjoy healthy air and breathtaking scenery, even at the end of each day. A widespread belief in the cultural and salutary benefits of rural life, plus the availability of money, prime land, and growing legions of professionally trained landscape architects, set the stage for ambitious residential landscape designs across the country. From 1895 to the waning years of the Great Depression, thousands of American estates were created from Mount Desert, Maine, to Santa Barbara, California. Together their designs comprise an important, virtually unexamined art movement. Seven such places are the subject of this photographic exhibition.  A Genius for Place: American Landscapes of the Country Place Era was organized by Library of American Landscape History, Amherst, Massachusetts. Reynolda House is grateful for the generous support of... EXHIBITION PARTNERS Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP Leigh and Gray Smith PROGRAM SPONSORS Henri and Royall Brown Claire and Hudnall Christopher Anne and Andy Copenhaver Mary and Frank Driscoll Cyndi Skaar and Ernie Fackelman Scottie and David Neill Lynn and Jeff Young Gwynne and Dan Taylor