The General's House: The Lee House as Building, Home, and Shrine (thesis)

Abstract

Houses that still fill their intended role of "family home" rarely can be described as a shrine or memorial, yet that is the best way to describe the Lee House. While built to house a university president, a function it still fills, the cultural status of the first occupant, General Robert E. Lee, makes the story of the house unique both on campus and within the wider social context. While not exactly a purpose-built temple commemorating a deity, the house's association with the Lee family has made it an "historic shrine." This thesis focuses on this connection between the figure of Lee and the house built for him. The process this otherwise ordinary structure Wlderwent to become a shrine, though not unique, is an important manifestation of how our culture commemorates heroes. [From the Introduction]