Atalaya - A review of my visit with pictures

While on vacation in South Carolina my husband and I decided to visit Atalya, a castle built by Archer Huntington and his wife Anna Hyatt Huntington as a winter home and a place for Mrs. Huntington's sculptures.  Anna was a noted sculptress and Atalaya was adorned with many of her works.  Some were in the house and most, since they were quite large, adorned the grounds.

I was told I could use this image and any photos I took to share with Gather.

It took three years to build Atalaya, started in 1931 and completed in 1933.  It had 30 rooms altogether.  It never had blueprints or detailed written plans.  They would just tell the workman what they wanted and then it was built.  The castle was not built all at one time, but added to as time passed.  The name Atalaya is a Spanish term for watchtower.  Archer Huntington was an authority on Spanish history and he designed the house after the Moorish architecture of the Spanish Mediterranean Coast.  The house, or as the woman who gave me much information at the visitor's center called it, the castle, sits near the Atlantic Ocean and in it's time was a very beautiful place to live and for Anna to sculpt.  Archer Huntington wanted to provide jobs for the community residents during the Great Depression and he insisted that all the work done on Atalaya was to only be done by local labor.

The front of the house faced the ocean.  The focal part of the structure is a square tower that rises about 40'.  In it's day this tower contained a 3,000 gallon water tank made of cypress.  Water drawn from an artesian well was pumped into a 10,000 gallon concrete cistern where the sand settled out.  Then it was pumped into the tower tank.  The height of the tank gave the water enough pressure to flow through the house.  This is one of the many fascinating features of the house.

 The water tower.

The Huntingtons also employed many workers who helped run the house and lived there in very nice quarters.  There were 30 rooms which consisted of a dining room, sunroom, library, bedrooms, Archer's study with an office for his secretary and Anna's study just to name a few.  Anna's studio had a 25' skylight and a door which led out to an enclosed courtyard so she could work on her many sculptures.  Her sculptures were mostly of live animals so there were facilities for animals.  There was a stable for horses, kennels for dogs and believe it or not even a bear pen.

 One of the many courtyards.

It seems like every room had a wood fireplace and they also heated with coal.  There are many ramps instead of stairs so they could wheel the wood to the many fireplaces during the winter. 

 DH, amazed at all the brick work and the many fireplaces.

 Here is another court yard and you can see there in the background to the right there is a ramp instead of stairs.

These are some of the other pictures I took.  The signage was very interesting and made the tour more interesting.

One side of the estate.

 Just who were the Huntingtons, you wonder?  I did too.  I was told that Archer was the son of a transportation magnate and Anna was a noted sculptress.  They also founded Brookgreen Gardens near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  We did not get to make this trip, but we will be going there first thing when we move to Myrtle Beach this winter.    Ann was also a member of the National Academy of Design and the National Sculpture Society.  The Huntingtons donated $100,000 to the NSS Exhibition of 1929.  They founded fourteen museums and four wild life preserves.  Her animal sculptures are both life-sized and smaller.  The are featured in many museums and collections across the United States.

 I found Atalya to be very interesting and the history behind it amazing.  I can't wait to go to Brookgreen Gardens to see some of Anna's work.