Villa Virginia

Villa Virginia is located on the east side of Ice Glen Road between its northern end and the Ice Glen trailhead. The property today extends over more than 50 acres (20 ha), including the western side of the Ice Glen ravine.[2] In the late nineteenth century this was the site of an estate owned by John and Isabella Wyman Winthrop, who operated a gentleman's farm on the property.[2] Under their ownership, Isadora Duncan danced on the property's lawn.[3] The site was purchased by William H. Clarke who razed the earlier structures and commissioned architects Hiss and Weekes to build a new estate on it in 1914. It is constructed in the style of a Tuscan villa of the Renaissance. It was also a working farm and had substantial outbuildings devoted to animals and farm machinery.[4] The landscape was designed by Ferruccio Vitale,[5] its formal features including a lily pond, grotto, and walled garden.[2]

During the 1970s, like many Berkshire cottages it was considered a "white elephant" and, as a consequence, wound up uninhabited and severely run down. From 1979 to 1998 it was a home and private gallery for artist Kazys Varnelis who extensively restored the structure and grounds.[6]

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