Carr’s Hill

The House on the Hill

U.Va.’s presidential residence turns 100

Carr’s Hill, the stately home of all the University of Virginia presidents, has witnessed a great deal in its century of existence, but the written record has been scant. When Betsy Casteen joined the household in 2003, the available literature consisted of an outdated flyer about the house and an unfinished catalog of its period furnishings and paintings.

A full accounting of Carr’s Hill’s history was in order, she decided, especially as its 100th anniversary was around the corner. “I thought it would be great to do a book because there are so many stories to tell,” she says.

Stanford White, the renowned architect of the time and a partner in the firm of McKim, Mead & White, designed Carr’s Hill but was murdered before completing the plans. Another architect with the firm, William Kendall, finished the design. U.Va.’s first president, Edwin A. Alderman, wanted the dwelling to be both symbolic and functional, desiring a plan similar to a house he admired in New Orleans.

“To serve as the social locus of the University’s presidency, the Aldermans were not seeking a Gilded Age plutocrat’s house built for pleasure,” Margaret Gutman Klosko (Grad ’91) writes in Carr’s Hill: The President’s House at the University of Virginia, 1909-2009, published this fall and available only through U.Va. Bookstores. “Instead, they sought a hard-working house.”

Until 1904, the University’s system of governance did not include a president. Thomas Jefferson’s minimal system called for just two managers: the rector, or head of the Board of Visitors, and the chair of the University’s faculty. But the chaos surrounding the 1895 Rotunda fire and subsequent reconstruction served as a wake-up call that the University needed a better managerial system to handle such a large project.

To call Carr’s Hill a working house might be an understatement. Though the residence is spacious—10,450 square feet with six bedrooms and eight bathrooms—the social engagements held there have multiplied as the University has grown. Today, about 14,000 guests are entertained there annually. One longstanding tradition has been to invite the first-year class to Carr’s Hill the day after students arrive. “I don’t think other large universities would do that,” says Betsy Casteen.

Having married U.Va. President John T. Casteen III in 2003, she admits that living in a house that is both an official residence and a private home has required some adjustment, such as coming downstairs and encountering strangers. “Every once in a while, we find someone sleeping on the furniture,” she says.

Several programs are being held this year in conjunction with the celebration of Carr’s Hill’s centennial. See this related article for a list of the events.

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