Redstone Campus, South Prospect Street

Built: 1885 - 1891
Original name: A.A. Buell Estate

UVM's Redstone Campus is as distinctive as its central core campus. Built at the close of the nineteenth century by lumber magnate Addison A. Buell, there is a great richness and humor in its evolution. It is noted that Buell was engaged in a contest of mansion-building and one-upmanship with railroad steamboat tycoon Col. Legrand Cannon whose opulent home was located nearby.¹ (Incidentally, John Wilson, whose house stands on Mansfield Avenue , served as Cannon's gardener prior to establishing his own business.²) Buell reportedly built an “Egyptian Room” in his mansion, in response to Cannon's “Persian Room.” A long circular driveway approaches the main house, with a gatehouse at standing at one end and a large carriage house at the other. A long, low, stone wall spans the entire front of the property, and is broken only to accommodate the driveway. The structures are constructed from local Monkton Dolomite, commonly known as “redstone.” The houses were built in a Richardson Romanesque style, and speak to Billings Library in this respect. The entire estate spanned some sixty-six acres.³

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1. Vermont Division for Historic Preservation, Burlington Historic Sites & Structures Surveys (1978 & 1983).
2. Blow, David, Historic Guide to Burlington Neighborhoods, VII (Chittenden County Historical Society, 1997), 64.
3. Visser, Thomas, Reid Larson and Ann Cousins, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form – Redstone Historic District. (United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service: 1991.)