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As new roads were built throughout the state, Governor Pollard found a way to beautify the grounds at minimal cost. At his request, the Department of Highways collected wild rhododendron from the roadways and transplanted them to the mansion at no extra cost to taxpayers.


But by the middle of the century, the mansion grounds looked forlorn. Governor and Mrs. Stanley turned to Charles Gillette, the landscape architect who had done work on their home in Henry County, to remedy the situation. Gillette, by then a Richmond institution, had previously designed gardens at the Virginia House and Agecroft Hall, and he had laid out the grounds of the University of Richmond’s new campus back in 1913. Gillette worked the way he always worked, walking the property and indicating to a scribbling assistant what should go where. He himself never drew a single plan. His approach emphasized the symmetry of the space, and he preferred a classical style, carefully detailed, and richly planted.


LIBRARY OF VIRGINIA


RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH COLLECTION, VALENTINE RICHMOND HISTORY CENTER


Charles Gillette, a prominent landscape architect in the upper South, specialized in gardens for Colonial Revival architecture. The design he created in 1956 endures today, thanks to the diligence of the Garden Club of Virginia.


First Lady Connie Darden and her daughter Irene set an example during World War II by planting a Victory Garden behind the mansion.


The House & Home Magazine


13


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