Zealandia (Asheville, North Carolina)

Last updated
Zealandia
Zealandia - Asheville, NC.jpg
USA North Carolina location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location1 Vance Gap Rd.
Asheville, North Carolina
Coordinates 35°35′47″N82°32′21″W / 35.59639°N 82.53917°W / 35.59639; -82.53917 Coordinates: 35°35′47″N82°32′21″W / 35.59639°N 82.53917°W / 35.59639; -82.53917
Area12.7 acres (5.1 ha)
Built1908 (1908)
Architectural styleTudor Revival
NRHP reference No. 77000995 [1]
Added to NRHPMarch 14, 1977

Zealandia is an historic home located at Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina. It was built in 1908, and is a three-story, "T"-plan, Tudor Revival style dwelling. It features a three-story porte cochere, projecting masses, steep gables, heavy wrought iron entrance gates, and massive chimneys.

In 1884, after thirty years of fortune-making in New Zealand, John Evans Brown returned to Asheville to build his dream castle atop Beaucatcher Mountain. Brown called his castle Zealandia. Completed in 1889, Zealandia is a pebbledash-on-brick enclosure modeled after Haddon Hall in England. Six years later, John Evans Brown died and Zealandia passed to O.D. Revell.

In 1904, Sir Phillip S. Henry, an Australian born diplomat acquired Zealandia. Under Sir Henry, Zealandia flourished. The castle doubled in size with a granite addition and was filled with ancient and sacred relics. In 1919, Sir Henry commissioned an artist to paint a mural in the style of the fifteenth century Italian painter, Benozzo Gozoli. This mural, located in the old dining room, portrays family members and friends clad in classical robes, posing languidly with hounds, horses and flowers.

In 1930, Sir Henry opened a public museum on the grounds of Zealandia. An avid equestrian, Sir Henry also built an imposing Tudor-style stable for his horses. The stable was destroyed by fire in 1981. Zealandia passed to Violet Henry, Sir Henry's daughter, and her husband British General Hartley Maconochie.

After WWII, the Maconochie's attempts to sell Zealandia were futile. In 1950, portions of the original castle were dismantled for economic and safety reasons.

In 1976, the construction of Interstate 240 demolished part of Beaucatcher Mountain, including the structure that once housed the public museum. Despite fervid community protests and registration as a National Historic Place, the old museum fell.

Zealandia is not open to the public.

Related Research Articles

Hampton Court Palace Historic royal palace in Richmond, Greater London

Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, 12 miles south west and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chief minister of King Henry VIII. In 1529, as Wolsey fell from favour, the cardinal gave the palace to the king to check his disgrace. The palace went on to become one of Henry's most favoured residences; soon after acquiring the property, he arranged for it to be enlarged so that it might more easily accommodate his sizeable retinue of courtiers. Along with St James' Palace, it is one of only two surviving palaces out of the many the king owned. The palace is currently in the possession of Queen Elizabeth II and the Crown.

Hever Castle

Hever Castle is located in the village of Hever, Kent, near Edenbridge, 30 miles (48 km) south-east of London, England. It began as a country house, built in the 13th century. From 1462 to 1539, it was the seat of the Boleyn family.

Biltmore Estate United States historic place

Biltmore Estate is a historic house museum and tourist attraction in Asheville, North Carolina. Biltmore House, the main residence, is a Châteauesque-style mansion built for George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895 and is the largest privately owned house in the United States, at 178,926 sq ft (16,622.8 m2) of floor space. Still owned by George Vanderbilt's descendants, it remains one of the most prominent examples of Gilded Age mansions.

Sherborne Castle 16th century house in Sherborne, United Kingdom

Sherborne Castle is a 16th-century Tudor mansion southeast of Sherborne in Dorset, England, within the parish of Castleton. It stands in a 1,200-acre (490 ha) park which formed a small part of the 15,000-acre (61 km2) Digby estate.

Baconsthorpe Castle Grade I listed castle in Norfolk, UK

Baconsthorpe Castle, historically known as Baconsthorpe Hall, is a ruined, fortified manor house near the village of Baconsthorpe, Norfolk, England. It was established in the 15th century on the site of a former manor hall, probably by John Heydon I and his father, William. John was an ambitious lawyer with many enemies and built a tall, fortified house, but his descendants became wealthy sheep farmers, and being less worried about attack, developed the property into a more elegant, courtyard house, complete with a nearby deer park.

Weston Park

Weston Park is a country house in Weston-under-Lizard, Staffordshire, England, set in more than 1,000 acres (400 ha) of park landscaped by Capability Brown. The park is located 10 miles (16 km) north-west of Wolverhampton, and 8 miles (13 km) north-east of Telford, close to the border with Shropshire. The 17th-century Hall is a Grade I listed building and several other features of the estate, such as the Orangery and the Stable block, are separately listed as Grade II.

Margam Castle Grade I listed house in Neath Port Talbot, Wales, United Kingdom

Margam Castle, Margam, Port Talbot, Wales, is a Victorian country house built for Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot. Designed by Thomas Hopper, the castle was constructed in a Tudor Revival style over a ten-year period, from 1830 to 1840. The site had been occupied for some 4,000 years. A Grade I listed building, the castle is now in the care of Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council.

Interstate 240 (I-240) is a 9.1-mile-long (14.6 km) Interstate Highway loop in the US state of North Carolina. It serves as an urban connector for Asheville and runs in a semicircle around the north of the city's downtown district between exits 53B and 46B of I-40. Between those points, I-40 continues in an east–west direction further south of the city, roughly parallel to the Swannanoa and French Broad rivers. The western segment of I-240 is now being cosigned with I-26 as part of a larger project extending I-26 from its former western terminus at I-40/I-240 to U.S. Highway 23 (US 23) near Kingsport, Tennessee.

Historic Third Ward, Milwaukee United States historic place

The Historic Third Ward is a historic warehouse district located in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This Milwaukee neighborhood is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, the Third Ward is home to over 450 businesses and maintains a strong position within the retail and professional service community in Milwaukee as a showcase of a mixed-use district. The neighborhood's renaissance is anchored by many specialty shops, restaurants, art galleries and theatre groups, creative businesses and condos. It is home to the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD), and the Broadway Theatre Center. The Ward is adjacent to the Henry Maier Festival Park, home to Summerfest. The neighborhood is bounded by the Milwaukee River to the west and south, E. Clybourn Street to the north, and Lake Michigan to the east.

Stony Point Battlefield United States historic place

Stony Point Battlefield is a historic site in Rockland County, New York; the location of the 1779 Battle of Stony Point during the American Revolutionary War. It is a National Historic Landmark and has a museum.

Halton Castle Castle ruins in Cheshire, England

Halton Castle is a castle in the village of Halton which is part of the town of Runcorn, Cheshire, England. The castle is situated on the top of Halton Hill, a sandstone prominence overlooking the village. A motte and bailey castle was built with construction starting in 1071, the original building was replaced with the current sandstone castle in the 13th Century. Building alterations continued until at least 1609 when the structure is recorded as in disrepair. The castle is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and a scheduled ancient monument.

Taunton Castle

Taunton Castle is a castle built to defend the town of Taunton, Somerset, England. It has origins in the Anglo Saxon period and was later the site of a priory. The Normans then built a stone structured castle, which belonged to the Bishops of Winchester. The current heavily reconstructed buildings are the inner ward, which now houses the Museum of Somerset and the Somerset Military Museum. The building was designated a grade I listed building in 1952.

Bradford Gilbert American architect (1853–1911)

Bradford Lee Gilbert was a nationally active American architect based in New York City. He is known for designing the Tower Building in 1889, the first steel-framed building anywhere and the first skyscraper in New York City. This technique was soon copied across the United States. He also designed Atlanta's Cotton States and International Exposition of 1895, the Flatiron Building in Atlanta, and many railroad stations.

Montford Area Historic District United States historic place

The Montford Area Historic District is a mainly residential neighborhood in Asheville, North Carolina that is included in the National Register of Historic Places.

Slebech Human settlement in Wales

Slebech was a community in Pembrokeshire, Wales, which is now part of the combined community of Uzmaston and Boulston and Slebech, a sparsely populated community on the northern shore of the Eastern River Cleddau. The community shares boundaries with the communities of Wiston and Llawhaden and mainly consists of farmland and woodland. Much of the community is within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and Picton Castle's stable block loft is an important breeding roost for the rare Greater Horseshoe Bat.

Lambert Castle United States historic place

Lambert Castle, originally called Belle Vista, is located within the Garret Mountain Reservation in Paterson, Passaic County, New Jersey. The building was built in 1892 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 3, 1976, for its significance in art, architecture, and industry.

Topsmead State Forest

Topsmead State Forest is a Connecticut state forest located in the town of Litchfield. It was formerly the summer residence of Edith Morton Chase, daughter of Henry Sabin Chase, first president of the Chase Brass and Copper Company. She left the house and its grounds to the state of Connecticut on her death in 1972. The estate house, built in 1929 to a design by RIchard Henry Dana, is a fine example of a Tudor Revival country estate house, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Pendley Manor

Pendley Manor is a hotel, conference and function centre near Tring, Hertfordshire, UK. It is a historic country house and is Grade II listed as an important example of Victorian architecture.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.