Atalaya and Brookgreen Gardens, National Historic Landmark district in Georgetown County, South Carolina.
Atalaya and Brookgreen Gardens is a National Historic Landmark District in Georgetown County, South Carolina, joining two properties built by Anna and Archer M. Huntington in the 1930s. Atalaya is a roughly square Spanish Revival building of 1931–33 with about thirty rooms and a large southeast studio; Brookgreen's sculpture garden covers about 550 acres of a 9,000-acre preserve.
Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington established this winter residence and sculpture garden complex between 1931 and 1933. They incorporated Moorish design elements into the structures, creating a new venue for displaying art to the public.
Brookgreen Gardens opened in 1931 as the first public sculpture garden in the United States, on about 550 acres of the Huntingtons' estate. Its permanent collection holds works by Anna Hyatt Huntington and contemporaries active between about 1890 and 1940, mostly realistic animal pieces. Anna laid out and directed the landscaping herself and forged wrought-iron hardware, including the garden's gates.
The grounds are accessible through Huntington Beach State Park and offer extensive walking paths for exploration. Plan enough time for your visit, as the property is large and spreads across multiple areas.
Atalaya was built in 1931–33 without architectural drawings, following design ideas supplied by Archer Huntington, a scholar of Spanish arts. Anna Huntington made its wrought-iron hardware herself, including the gates of Brookgreen Gardens, and she laid out and directed the landscaping of the sculpture garden.
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