America's cultural diversity is often likened to soup, more appropriately a stew. While this simile is true, it needs to be expanded. Yes, America is made up a diversity of peoples and cultures, but the populace has never taken the form of a consistent

Bellingrath Home

purée proffered from single tureen. More appropriately, the varied regions and locales of our vast country should be seen as a vast array of distinctive dishes. Each concoction of the larger menu is characterized by a diversity of flavors that are always subject to change.  

Although a single building or a group of buildings can characterize a particular place in time, some structures defy classification. Like that delectable dish whose seasoning you cannot pin down, constituent components often elude classification. At first glance, the house at Bellingrath Gardens appears just such an anomaly. Upon closer inspection, the great house takes part in both local traditions and national trends - namely Mobile's recognition of its own past and American admiration of European culture.  The result is a world class gumbo featuring ingredients procured from both near and afar.

A localized take on the country house tradition, the larger Bellingrath Estate consists of a main house, ancillary structures, and architectural follies picturesquely arranged in a pastoral landscape. The property, a collaborative vision of patrons Walter and Bessie Bellingrath and architect George B. Rogers, evolved over a twenty year period. Built as a weekend retreat and a vehicle of display, the exterior elevations, internal plan, and decorative appointments of the main house demonstrate how Rogers and the Bellingrath's worked together to produce a distinctive ensemble.  The true flavor of this local special must be experienced in order to be truly appreciated.

Though clearly visible at the end of expansive lawns and atop a river bluff, it is hard to obtain a good view of the Bellingrath House. With its irregular massing and asymmetrical elevations, the house appears to have grown over time, as need arose. In actuality, the house was built in single building campaign (1931-1935). Even when achieving a partial view of a single elevation, the house still evades stylistic categorization. According to Mr. Rogers, the house was a marriage of French, English, and Mediterranean "influences." Consciously picturesque, the design then paid homage to European powers that determined Mobile's early history. The result was a thoroughly modern, yet a historically informed dwelling. The choice of materials abetted the sense of timelessness of time-tested traditions. The old Mobile brick facing the walls and the salvaged ironwork gracing the galleries lends an instant patina and pedigree to a house planned for contemporary patterns of gracious living. Pleasing to the eye and the mind, the house comprises an appetizing morsel of contemplation.

The Bellingrath House is more than visually appealing. The picturesque massing is result of the careful consideration of the constituent ingredients. Presentation and preparation went hand in hand for the exterior forms were determined by internal functions. Like a well seasoned and simmered rue, the plan (a masterful orchestration of formal, semi-formal, public, private, served, servant spaces) took into aesthetic and practical considerations. Ventilation, vistas, circulation, and display were key concerns. Built without the convenience air-conditioning, the siting of the house, the provision of windows, and the use air-circulating passages were all important necessities. Being built about a central courtyard and opening to

Bellingrath Courtyard

surrounding grounds, the interior spaces open to the breezes, as well as the views. The importance of the view was twofold for the house was conceived as both an object of contemplation and vehicle for observation. The dialogue between the interior and the exterior was abetted by the multiple points of entry. Built with multiple functions and individuals in mind, the house has separate points of entry for guests, family and friends, and servants. Everyone and everything had its place, but conventions and expectations demanded interconnectedness of space. Fine china and silver arrived on the dining room table from their own respective closets. Bed linens reached the upstairs bedrooms from the downstairs laundry. Flowers from the gardens graced the drawing room mantels. In this scenario, the privileged formal rooms and their fittings can be likened to the lump crab and shrimp that add substance and texture to the roux.

The interiors combined decorative objects and architectural components from the mother cultures that defined Mobile's history. Mr. Rogers summed up his working method as that of "the great designers of yore [who] borrowed and blended the motifs from their predecessors, each adding something of his own." As evidenced by the main staircase, the prominent door surrounds, and major mantels; Rogers used English Georgian forms as the base of the interior roux. To this base he added both familiar and exotic garnishes, all sanctified vestiges of golden times past.  A piece of Belter furniture from the antebellum period was then perfectly at home in the same room as French vase of the ancien regime and an English mirror from the age of empire.

Singular to itself and its creators, a visit to Bellingrath Gardens is a feast for the senses. The exterior elevations, interior plan, and decorative objects reflect an array of contemporary sources and ideas. Like master chefs, George Rogers and Mr. and Mrs. Bellingrath, combined those selected ingredients to create a visual feast that will leave one wanting multiple helpings.