Is Virginia the Most Stylish State in America?

Call it the Commonwealth of Chic. As an A-list of early Virginians laid out a vision for a new American democracy in colonial Gotham and Philadelphia, at home, they quietly sowed the seeds of a fourth branch of government—one that would deliver centuries of design precedent.

Indeed, one could argue there's aesthetic prodigy rooted deep in the soil of Virginia's sweeping valleys and soaring ridges, burgeoning cities and coastal plains. Over the past 250 years, the matriarchal state has turned out aesthetic visionaries the way England sows literary giants—and their imprints on the American house and garden, seismic.

From Thomas Jefferson's foundation for American classicism to the unapologetic modernism of Amaza Lee Meredith that sent bold, stylish ripples right on up to the Hamptons (quite a feat in 1940s Sag Harbor), not to mention the living legends shaping American house and garden tradition today, Virginia's style wizardry runs deep.

Here, with the assistance of Virginia architectural historian and author Calder Loth, a look at 17 of the most prescient legacy makers of Old Dominion.

After moving from Chesterfield County to Winchester as a teenager, designer Bill Brockschmidt spent time cataloguing antiques at Millwood's Carter Hall mansion, where Rachel "Bunny" Melon grew up.

Oak Spring, the estate Bunny Mellon shared with her husband, Paul, was equal parts residence and botanical laboratory for the 20th-century garden visionary, whose designs include the original White House Rose Garden.

Architect Eero Saarinen’s graceful, fluid scheme for Dulles International Airport (1958–1962), located in Chantilly, Virginia, revolutionized airport design.

University of Virginia School of Architecture graduate Steven Gambrel, one of today's top designers now based in New York, grew up in Oakton.

The only known surviving elevation sketch of George Washington’s Mount Vernon was executed in his own hand, reportedly created by consulting English pattern books and following neoclassical principles.

Parish-Hadley alum and renowned designer Thomas Hamel, now based in Sydney, Australia, hails from Norfolk.

The pivotal 1920s restoration of the buildings of Colonial Williamsburg preserved a key portal into American residential design.

New York designerand author Charlotte Moss grew up in Richmond, where her interests in history and gardening “are rooted in gracious, hospitable, and authentic soil.”

Through his work in restoration and Colonial Revival properties, 20th-century landscape architect Charles Gillette established the regional style known as the Virginia Garden.

The descendant of two Virginia-born presidents and former dean of UVA School of Architecture, Jaquelin Taylor Robertson was an early conceptualist of New Urbanism, pioneering Battery Park City and Celebration, Florida.

Architect William Henry Moses Jr.’s pavilion for the 1939 World’s Fair won the design award for Virginia; the prize was retracted once it was learned that he was Black. He founded the architecture program at Hampton University, which still thrives today.

Black modernist Amaza Lee Meredith’s concrete-block residence Azurest South in Lynchburg defied all Colonial design tropes. She went on to develop an African American vacation community in Sag Harbor.

Nancy Lancaster, founder of design firm and fabric house Colefax and Fowler, was born at Mirador, the 19th-century Federal-style estate of her grandfather.

In Charlottesville, New York-based designer and author Bunny Williams, known for—among other things—her impeccable eye fort antiques, grew up going to furniture auctions with her mother.

Adjacent to his boyhood home in Shadwell, architect Thomas Jefferson tested the orderly principles of Andrea Palladio in his design of Monticello, creating a new template for American architecture. His vision for the buildings of the University of Virginia influenced campuses around the country.

When Hollywood actor and Staunton native William Haines was denied parts because he was gay, he started an interior design business and went on to decorate for Joan Crawford and Ronald and Nancy Reagan at Sunnylands.

California interior, events, and hotel designer Ken Fulk grew up admiring Monticello from his hometown of Harrisonburg. “I thought I should live there.”