Williamsburg Record Photographs

Williamsburg Record Photographs

Williamsburg (Va.) - Photographs

Williamsburg (Va.) - Buildings, structures, etc.

Photograph albums

Shurcliff, Arthur A. (Arthur Asahel), 1870-1957

Landscape architecture - Virginia - Williamsburg

Arthur A. Shurcliff [ne Shurtleff] (1870 – 1957) was the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s first landscape architect. A student of Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., considered the father of landscape architecture in America, Shurcliff’s Williamsburg gardens are recognized as consummate examples of the Colonial Revival style.

Record photography played an important role in the research process undertaken to restore Williamsburg’s historic district to its eighteenth century appearance. In addition to having professional contract photographers systematically produce pre-restoration and progress photos of each building site, the members of the architectural team comprising the Williamsburg office of architects Perry, Shaw, and Hepburn also took their own separate series of images to aid their specific projects. Assembled into a series of five volumes labeled "Williamsburg Record Photographs," Shurcliff’s photos document pre-restoration scenes of Williamsburg and archaeological investigations underway, as well as preliminary restoration or reconstruction work on structures, along with recreation of garden paths and plantings. Before beginning landscape work, Shurcliff carefully analyzed existing garden features at each site, examined any archaeological discoveries connected to garden layouts, and studied extant eighteenth-century sites throughout tidewater Virginia to aid with design precedents.

Shurcliff, Arthur A.

1933-02

AV2010.5

5 volumes; 575 photographs

Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation