Byrdcliffe Colony
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Byrdcliffe Historic District
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| Location | Upper Byrdcliffe Way, , Ulster County, New York |
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| Coordinates | 42°3′14″N 74°8′17″W / 42.05389°N 74.13806°WCoordinates: 42°3′14″N 74°8′17″W / 42.05389°N 74.13806°W |
| Built | 1902 |
| Architect | Whitehead,Ralph Radcliffe; Et al. |
| Architectural style | Stick/Eastlake, Other |
| NRHP Reference # | 79001643 |
| Added to NRHP | May 7, 1979 |
The Byrdcliffe Colony, also called the Byrdliffe Arts Colony or Byrdcliffe Historic District, was founded in 1902 near by Jane Byrd McCall and Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead and colleagues, Bolton Brown (artist) and Hervey White (writer). It is the oldest operating Arts and Crafts Colony in America. The Arts and Crafts Movement arose in the late nineteenth century in reaction to the dehumanizing monotony and standardization of industrial production. Byrdcliffe was created as an experiment in utopian living inspired by the arts and crafts movement.
The colony is still in operation today and is located on 300 acres (1.2 km2) with 35 original buildings, all designed in the Arts and Crafts style. There is a self-guided walking tour through the compound as well as a hiking path that leads to the mountain top which gives way to scenic Catskill views.
The colony continues to foster the development of artistic vision. Along with ongoing music, theater and art performances held in the Byrdcliffe Theater, Barn and on property lawns, The Byrdcliffe Colony hosts an Artist-In-Residence program that houses over 70 artists each summer who practice in a wide variety of field and medium. The program accepts writers, composers, and visual artists. Byrdcliffe maintains an exhibition and performance space in the heart of Woodstock, the Kleinert/James Center for the Arts, which hosts 6 or 7 exhibitions of contemporary art annually.
Woodstock is surrounded by the Catskill Mountains of New York State. The entire Byrdcliffe estate lay on 1,500 acres (6 km²) on the south-facing side of Mount Guardian, just above Woodstock. This location provides the rustic landscape meant to inspire and elevate the art community. Additionally, Woodstock offers close proximity to the art and culture of New York City and was home to well-known painters like Milton Avery and Philip Guston.
For many years, Whitehead held the idea of creating an Arts and Crafts community where all the arts would come together, including painting, sculpture, music, metalwork and furniture making. After a failed attempt to establish a community near Arcadia, California and Albany, Oregon, he scouted the East Coast for a suitable site, eventually landing in Woodstock, NY. The Byrdcliffe Arts Colony received its name as a combination of Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead’s middle name and his wife’s, Jane Byrd McCall Whitehead, middle name.
Artists, writers, musicians, social reformers, and intellectuals came from across the country to stay at Byrdcliffe and gain inspiration from the setting and people with shared artistic goals. Facilities included studios for painting, weaving, pottery, metalwork, woodworking; cottages with bathrooms and sleeping porches; a library, and a rambling villa for Whitehead and his family. He built "White Pines" as his residence with a skylit cathedral ceilinged weaving room overlooking a picturesque view across the Woodstock Valley.
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Wikipedia