Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Charles F. Gillette Photographs, 1905-1970, Accession #11083, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Processing Information

These photographs were transferred from the Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library to Special Collections in 1990 but were not accessioned until March 17, 1993.

Biographical/Historical Information

Charles Freeman Gillette (1886-1969) was a Richmond landscape architect. A native of Wisconsin, he was born in Chippewa Falls on March 14, 1886, to Orlando Gillette (d. 1926) and Katy Melville Gillette (d. 1927). He began his apprenticeship in landscape architecture with Warren Manning (1860-1938), a Boston landscape designer, in 1909. His first assignment was at Chelmsford, the Elon Huntington Hooker estate in Greenwich, Connecticut. In 1912, he married Ellen Cogswell (1880-1967), the daughter of Fillmore and Lillian Patterson Cogswell. Some notable Gillette landscape projects in Virginia include the grounds of Richmond College (1911); Nelson House in Yorktown (1915); Kenmore (1924); Virginia House and Agecroft Hall (1927); and the Executive Mansion garden (1954). For a very fine book discussing the career of Charles F. Gillette see Genius in the Garden Charles F. Gillette & Landscape Architecture in Virginia by George C. Longest.

Scope and Content Information

This collection contains photographos of Virginia homes, estates and gardens. They include snapshots of older homes and sites, chiefly in Albemarle County, Va., photographed for their historical value and containing notes on the verso commenting on the original owners,unusual architectural details, or directions to the site. There are also professional photographs of well-known Virginia buildings, many of whose gardens were designed by Gillette. In addition there are copies of photographs of historical Gloucester County homes, 1905; and the 1970 report of the Historical Richmond Foundation.