Reynolda House Museum of American Art

Got to go to the American Impressionists exhibit in its last week. Went with a friend who works in acrylics, who was tremendously tolerant of my nonartistic comparisons in trying to voice my thoughts. The exhibit was amazing, and getting to peruse each work both up close and from across the gallery continually amazed me at the artists’ skill with color, dimensionality, and translucence.
As far as the house… I think of a bungalow as a size of house, not a style. I lived in an 800 square foot bungalow for years. Reynolda House is enormous and I loved seeing all the detail even to the 100+ year old tilework. And a main room where a 7′ wide painting fits in an alcove is a room of massive scale!
Amused that up in the bedroom there was a phone (for strictly internal use; outside calls needed to go thru the switchboard) accompanied by a manual — yes, what extensions to dial for the different rooms, but more geared towards someone who never saw a phone before. It was along the lines of: 1) Pick up receiver. 2) Insert one finger in the hole above the digit you wish to dial. 3) Using that finger, rotate dial until your finger runs into the stop. 4) Release dial. The dial will rotate back to the starting position. Also included was what to listen for — what a ring sounds like as opposed to a busy signal, for example.

Reynolda House Museum is such a neat spot nestled away in Reynolda Village. I would recommend going on a nice day since I feel like the grounds and gardens are a big part of the whole experience. The exhibit space isn’t huge but they do a great job curating special collections. The collections rotate a good amount so you can visit a few times a year and see something new every time. I recently went and it was a gardens exhibit of all oil paintings.
During the Summer they have great Cinema Under The Stars events on the front lawn. They also seem to have a lot of member mixers which makes the membership a great deal. Be sure to check out their calendar for a variety of events throughout the year that you don’t have to be a member for.

I took a detour on a work trip and toured the home. It was definitely a neat place to visit.
Throw out what you think of the tobacco business because this house is dedicated to RJ Reynolds wide as she was the brains behind the estate.
The house is impressive and really is an architectural wonder. I’m amazed at how much thought and detail went into the building of the home. It’s also interesting to see the different eras pressed into this building.
The grounds surrounding it are exactly what I would envision a home in the South to look like.
Very cool experience. The admission is $ 14, so a tad steep but if you visit all the sites on the land it’s worth it.

What a great small collection of American artwork. I’ve been here multiple times and always notice something new. The art is rotated regularly and the museum exhibits allow you to really take in the art rather than be overwhelmed by so many pieces in larger collections. The docents are informative and if you are taking in the house tour, I recommend the audio guide.

Overview:
The Reynolda House is a bungalow style mansion formerly owned by RJ Reynolds and Katherine Reynolds, the owners of the famous RJ Reynolds tobacco company. It (and the huge plot of land it occupied) was given to the Wake Forest University decades ago and is now a museum & art gallery open for free to Wake Forest employees/​students/​guests of employees OR $ 11 to the general public.
The House:
This house is closer in volume to a «standard» mansion that your rich friend in high school used to live in, rather than the Biltmore mansion in Asheville. While it may not occupy that much more volume than a «reasonably» sized mansion, it is deceptively large thanks to its relatively low ceiling heights. In addition, it has many features that are more specific to the ultra-​rich such as an indoor bowling alley, a shooting galley, a full-​size indoor pool, an basement bar/​restaurant area, and an organ system that runs through almost the entire house. I would take photos but unfortunately they are forbidden, I think as a way to ensure the artwork or architecture isn’t duplicated :-(. I took a picture of the outside of the house anyways and hope that i don’t get fined.
The Tour:
We’ve always gone with the self-​guided, audio tour, and have been very pleased. We love the stories and the commentary associated with all the rooms of the house, and I would say you can spend at least one hour viewing the sights and reading the descriptions accompanying each room.
The Art:
I’ve been to this mansion several times because we bring all our guests (who love history) here and have always been impressed by the frequency at which they change art pieces. While this gallery does not have any of the famous artists or works that you may find in large-​city museums in Los Angeles or Boston, it does have some fun pieces by less-​known artists. The last exhibit I just visited was an exhibition on chairs and I loved viewing and reading about the collection of a couple dozen chairs from the past centuries.
The Grounds/​Gardens:
The grounds are what attracts quite a lot of dog walkers and picnickers. Don’t be surprised to see everything from small pugs to corgis to pit bulls. Combine it with the adjacent Reynolda Village, and you can really spend an entire afternoon here with your special person :-).
Conclusions:
To be honest, I’m really not a museum kind of guy, and only come here because of my wife, because it makes her very happy. A happy wife makes me a happy guy and thus I give Reynolda House 4-​stars for that.

I love coming to Reynolda house several times a year. They have 2 or 3 major exhibits each year. They show a variety of mediums which are interesting. Admission is 14 a person full price but you can get discounts. I like that the art exhibit is included in admission. Check their calender of events for their special Thursday events. You can see the art exhibit for 5 dollars and they have other activities like music and food. The gardens are beautiful and I would check them out as well.

We went there today and really enjoyed it. This isn’t nearly in the same league, for example, as something like the Hearst Castle — so if that’s what you’re looking for, you’ll be disappointed. However, part of the appeal of Reynolda House is its rather modest atmosphere when considering the wealth of its former inhabitants.
The art gallery currently has an exhibit of paintings from the Brooklyn Museum. Before entering the house (located in a different section from the art gallery), we watched a *very* interesting (short) film about the family and the house. The house has some lovely items in a rather low-​key environment. Also, the organ is fascinating (we learned from one of the guards that it cost 20% of the entire house’s original value) and we went up to the attic level to see the (huge) pipes. Unfortunately it was raining heavily, so we weren’t able to visit the gardens — although we viewed part of them from the breezeway, and truthfully there isn’t a lot in bloom right now.
The three guards were *very* friendly and we had a really enjoyable conversation with each of them. The two women at the reception desk were also very friendly. Note that the AAA and senior discounts were discontinued several months ago.

The house and gardens itself deserves 5 stars, while the people who operate the grounds and house are worthy of only one star.
Not only is it not «family friendly», but the security followed us around as if we were teenagers they thought were going to shoplift. They wouldn’t let me use my small little umbrella stroller, however bulky wheelchairs were acceptable. They were also very particular about how I carried my baby. I was not allowed to carry her on my shoulders for some reason. It just so happens that carrying her on my shoulders keeps her more content and less squirmy.
Maybe I caught them on a bad day, but I was only visiting my hometown on a brief stop, and wanted to share the house with my husband. I would recommend them taking a second look at how they treat families who want to tour the house. Being in The South, their hospitality was embarrassing. It’s sad when its easier to fly with an infant than walk around a house.

I would definitely recommend stopping here on a day trip to Winston-​Salem. (I actually found it more appealing than Old Salem which is interesting but kind of predictable.) This house is available to tour and truly has some –unique– rooms and flourishings. I won’t give too much away, but definitely make sure you check out the basement! In addition, these grounds include gardens, a greenhouse, walking trails, and even a mini village with shops that were all once part of this estate. It really is worth the trip! The only reason I would give it ⁴⁄₅ stars is that I would have preferred if they had someone to give a live tour vs. an audio tour. Other than that, great spot!

RJ Reynolds’ home. Beautifully restored, maintained, and decorated. Gorgeous artwork. Tours.

This place is definitely part of Winston-​Salems history and serves as a backdrop to some of the families that made this place what it once was a few years ago. (Before the cigarette business started crashing)
Tobacco paid for many things for many families around North Carolina and while I do not smoke, I appreciate the business.
This mansion was once the home to RJ Reynolds. I wont ruin it for you by telling you everything about it. But I will say this is the Biltmore of Winston Salem. If you are in the area, stop by and take the tour.

Two Reviews In One!
1. The Reynolda House — an audio guided tour takes less than one hour though you can go faster or slower (you will miss a lot without the audio). Their is a Main Floor with many glassed in «sleeping Porches» (TB scare), Second Floor, Small Attic (cool) and Large Basement. In the Basement we saw a functional pool (yes I wanted to go swimming and would have, though it is only allowed for certain groups), bowling alley, shooting galley, Squash court and a fantastic Bar!!! No photos were allowed, though you need to see this Bar and I bet there are photos online!
The Best part of the House for me (other than the Pool and the Attic) was a large painting by Lee Krasner (1908 — 1984) (Jackson Pollocks widow… I’m not sure what else to call her).
2. The Museum of American Art — We saw the «Modern Masters From the Smithsonian American Art Museum» Exhibit on October 26^th 2011 — It was cool! Modern and Bright — Forty-​Three works by Thirty-​One Artists who came to maturity in the 1950’s. Including works from Artists: Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell, Josef Albers, Helen Frankenthaler, Romare Beardon, and Jim Dine

My cousin and I went on a tour here-​and it was a great time. I didn’t see the gardens, but she did, and said they were great.
Art gallery, and mansion of RJ Reynolds and his young bride. They had a pretty good audio tour, which looked a little geeky, but had some nice quotes from family members.
My favorite parts were the attic and basement, which had the fun bowling alley, pool, and bar, and a display of all their fun hats and shoes.
Bonus that students are free.