Atalaya | |
Nearest city | Murrells Inlet, South Carolina |
---|---|
Coordinates | 33°30′6″N79°4′3″W / 33.50167°N 79.06750°W |
Built | 1931 |
Architect | Archer Milton Huntington; William Thompson |
Part of | Atalaya and Brookgreen Gardens (ID84002045) |
NRHP reference No. | 84002045 [1] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | September 7, 1984 |
Designated NHLDCP | October 5, 1992 |
Atalaya Castle, often known simply as Atalaya, was the winter home of industrialist and philanthropist Archer M. Huntington and his wife, the sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington, located in Huntington Beach State Park near the Atlantic coast in Murrells Inlet, Georgetown County, South Carolina.
Archer Huntington was a noted scholar of Spanish culture and art, and designed the residence in the Moorish Revival and Mediterranean Revival architecture styles from Spanish Andalusian coast models.
Atalaya was built near the Atlantic Ocean in northeastern South Carolina, within present day Huntington Beach State Park. The location was chosen as a milder winter retreat for the health of Anna Huntington, who suffered from tuberculosis from the mid-twenties to the mid-thirties. [2]
The 200-by-200-foot (61 m × 61 m) masonry structure was built from 1931 to 1933 apparently without drawn plans, [3] Archer Huntington had already designed the residence for them with his detailed imagination 'in his head.' [4] [5] Local labor was used at Archer Huntington's insistence to provide work for a community hard hit by the Great Depression.
Atalaya (ah-tuh-LIE-yuh) means "watchtower" in Spanish, as in the real Atalaya Castle in Spain. The house is dominated by a square tower, which housed a 3,000-US-gallon (11,000 L) water tank. [3] Rising nearly 40 feet (12 m) from a covered walkway, it bisects Atalaya's inner court. The inner walls of the main courtyard were covered with creeping fig vines, Sabal palmettos, the South Carolina state tree, and other palms.
The living quarters consist of 30 rooms around three sides of the perimeter, while the studio, with its 25-foot (7.6 m) skylight, opens onto a small, enclosed courtyard where Anna Hyatt Huntington worked on her sculptures. Pens for animal models, including horses, dogs and bears, are situated adjacent to the open studio. The building also features hand-wrought iron grills designed by Mrs. Huntington, which cover the exteriors of windows. These and shutters were installed for protection against hurricane winds. [3]
During World War II the Huntingtons vacated Atalaya and provided it to the Army Air Corps for use from 1942 to 1946.
The Huntingtons last used Atalaya as their winter home in 1947. Most of the furnishings were sent to New York City after Mr. Huntington's death in 1955. The studio equipment was moved to a new studio at Brookgreen Gardens just across U.S. Route 17, which cut through the Huntingtons' former contiguous property.
The 2,500-acre (1,000 ha) tract was leased to the state in 1960 for use as a state park. Mrs. Huntington died in 1973.
Atalaya Castle was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, [1] and was included in the designation of Atalaya and Brookgreen Gardens (along with the sculpture garden at Brookgreen Gardens) as a National Historic Landmark District in 1992. [6] [7]
The Friends of Huntington Beach State Park offer guided tours of Atalaya and operate the Atalaya Visitor Center with exhibits about the house and the Huntingtons.
The annual Atalaya Arts and Crafts Festival is held each year in late September. [8]
Murrells Inlet is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Georgetown County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 7,547 at the 2010 census. It is about 13 miles south of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and 21 miles north of Georgetown, the county seat.
Brookgreen Gardens is a sculpture garden and wildlife preserve, located just south of Murrells Inlet, in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The 9,100-acre (37 km2) property includes several themed gardens featuring American figurative sculptures, the Lowcountry Zoo, and trails through several ecosystems in nature reserves on the property. It was founded by Archer Milton Huntington, stepson of railroad magnate Collis Potter Huntington, and Anna Hyatt Huntington, his wife, to feature sculptures by Anna and her sister Harriet Randolph Hyatt Mayor, along with other American sculptors. Brookgreen Gardens was opened in 1932. It was developed on property of four former rice plantations, taking its name from the former Brookgreen Plantation, which dates to the antebellum period.
Huntington Beach State Park is a 2500 acre coastal preserve and state park near Murrells Inlet, in Georgetown County, South Carolina. It has a large sandy beach, few beach-goers, and numerous wild birds to watch over the seasons.
Archer Milton Huntington was an American philanthropist and scholar, primarily known for his contributions to the field of Hispanic studies. He founded the Hispanic Society of America in New York City, and made numerous contributions to the American Geographical Society.
The Waccamaw Neck is a long narrow peninsula between the Atlantic Ocean and the Waccamaw River in Georgetown County, South Carolina. The town of Pawleys Island is located on the Waccamaw Neck, as well as the unincorporated mainland area, which includes the areas of Litchfield Beach and North Litchfield Beach. The entire area shares Zip Code 29585. The Waccamaw Neck is located south of Myrtle Beach on the Grand Strand, and just north of the historic seaport of Georgetown.
Anna Vaughn Huntington was an American sculptor who was among New York City's most prominent sculptors in the early 20th century. At a time when very few women were successful artists, she had a thriving career. Hyatt Huntington exhibited often, traveled widely, received critical acclaim at home and abroad, and won multiple awards and commissions.
Sunnyside Gardens is a community within Sunnyside, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. The area was the first development in the United States patterned after the ideas of the garden city movement initiated in England in the first decades of the twentieth century by Ebenezer Howard and Raymond Unwin, specifically Hampstead Garden Suburb and Letchworth Garden City.
Albert W. Wein (1915–1991) was an American sculptor.
Atalaya and Brookgreen Gardens is a National Historic Landmark District encompassing two formerly-united properties associated with sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington (1876-1973) on the coast of Georgetown County, South Carolina. The district includes Atalaya Castle, now part of Huntington Beach State Park, and the sculpture garden of Brookgreen Gardens, both properties part of a large estate developed by Anna and Archer M. Huntington in the 1930s. It includes the nation's first formal sculpture garden, and one of the studios at which Huntington did her most productive work. The district was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1992.
Audubon Terrace, also known as the Audubon Terrace Historic District, is a landmark complex of eight early-20th century Beaux Arts/American Renaissance buildings located on the west side of Broadway, bounded by West 155th and West 156th Streets, in the Washington Heights neighborhood of upper Manhattan, New York City, United States. Home to several cultural institutions, the architecturally complementary buildings, which take up most of a city block, are arranged in two parallel rows facing each other across a common plaza. The complex is directly across 155th Street from Trinity Church Cemetery.
Huntington is the surname of three prominent families from the United States of America. The first was active in the eastern region; the second played an important role in the early Latter Day Saint movement, and pioneered and founded the State of Utah with Brigham Young; the third was active on both coasts and the regions linking them. All three lines descend from Simon Huntington and his wife, Margaret Baret Huntington, who immigrated to America from Norwich, England, in 1633.
Alpheus Hyatt Mayor (1901–1980) was an American art historian and curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a leading figure in the study of prints, both old master prints and popular prints.
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Georgetown County, South Carolina.
Joshua John Ward, of Georgetown County, South Carolina, is known as the American slaveholder who owned the most slaves at one point, dubbed "the king of the rice planters".
Brenda Putnam was an American sculptor, teacher and author.
Lee Harold Letts, American artist, sculptor, painter and goldsmith, is primarily known for his bronze sculptures of birds and animals. His practice is based on the principles of traditional studio craftsmanship, as well as the importance of studying under a master in the manner of the American artists who studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. The beauty of nature is the primary theme of his artwork. He holds a unique position as a bronze sculptor trained as a goldsmith.
Dawn is a 1931 bronze sculpture by Helen Journeay. It depicts a nude woman in a contrapposto pose with her right elbow raised and right hand behind her head. With her left hand, she caresses the head of a fawn standing behind her.
Beatrice Irene Gilman Proske was an art historian, specifically in Spanish and American sculpture. She was an early employee of the Hispanic Society of America in New York City, with a specialty in sculpture. Her expertise expanded to American sculpture with her work at Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina, and she died an honorary trustee. Her work also included advising the magazine of the National Sculpture Society. She was the author of preeminent studies on Spanish sculpture and American sculpture.