From The Historic Architecture of Addison County – Vermont State Register of Historic Places:
Columbus Smith, a successful international attorney specializing in probate law, built Shard Villa in 1872-1874. Warren Thayer, a Burlington, Vermont, architect designed the mansion for Smith in the French Second Empire style from a plate in a popular architecture pattternbook. Father-and-son Middlebury architects George and Clinton Smith, designed the detailing for the structure, as well as a masoluem on the grounds in 1882, constructed after the death of Columbus’ son Willie. The notable grounds, including serpentine stone walls and tree clusters, were designed by English landscape gardener Robert Morris Copeland. In 1886-87 Italian fresco-painter Silvio Pezzoli decorated most interior walls with colorful murals. After Columbus left the mansion and his fortune in trust for elderly Christian women “not addicted to drink,” a rear wing was added in 1922 and one of the earliest group care homes in Addison County established there.
View from the road.
Front entrance.
Closer view from the lawn.
Looking up.
Side view.
On the driveway approach.
Side view shows part of the historic addition.
Breathtaking, yes? Drive by if you’re in the area.
Preservation in Pink 