Name/Title
The Red Hill of To-DayEntry/Object ID
95.45.1Description
Black and white photograph depicting an artist's rendering of the the Red Hill mansion.
Printed underneath the picture: "The Red Hill of Today, Patrick Henry's dwelling stands just as it was. The architect, Mr. Charles Barton Keen, took his cue from it in remodeling and amplifying it."Provenance
Notes
This photograph depicts the proposed design of the main house at Red Hill. It was printed from page 398 of George Morgan's biography of Henry titled "The True Patrick Henry" (1907) at a time when the house's expansion was not yet completed.
The original painting is lost, but is believed to have been done by the architect of the project, Charles Barton Keen, or by an assistant. This design differs slightly compared to what was ultimately built: the grape arbors on either end of the house were never constructed, the square boxwoods in front of the house were never planted, and the main block of the house was slightly longer.
This photo was purchased by PHMF along with other research files from author Robert Douthat Meade while writing his two-volume biography of Patrick Henry in 1946. Meade offered to sell his research notes to the Patrick Henry Memorial Foundation. Dr. Meade needed the money to aid his research and writing and also wanted to promote the mission of the Foundation. He received a payment from the Foundation in 1946 for the files. This photo was removed from these files for its individual interest and accessioned separately in 1995.