Image from The Landmark Trust
From Palladio's grandest villa, La Rotonda, to one of his most modest, Villa Saraceno. It's essentially a farmhouse, with the attic level of the house originally used as a granary. The photograph below shows various outbuildings (not by Palladio) next to the villa.
The house dates from the 1540s and is one of Palladio's earliest works.
Image from La Repubblica
Even though it's a much simpler building than La Rotonda, the design has been enormously influential. The basic design has been used for a number of country houses in England, and there are countless town halls and post offices in the United States whose lineage can be traced back to Villa Saraceno. The picture below is the post office in Salem, Massachusetts.
Villa Saraceno is unique among Palladio's villas in that it's possible to rent the house for a holiday. The building had fallen into disrepair and was acquired in 1989 by the Landmark Trust, a British preservation charity. The Trust restored the house and turned it into a holiday home that can be rented by the week.
The Landmark Trust
2 comments:
I thought the post office was from Old Town Alexandria, VA. Must have the same PO architect!
Another distinguished decendent of Villa Saraceno is Mt. Airy in Richmond Co, VA.
http://www.american-architecture.info/USA/USA-South/SO-031.htm
I can't believe that I missed this series. Great blog!
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