Hill–Stead Museum is a

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archi ...

house and art museum set on a large estate at 35 Mountain Road in

Farmington, Connecticut Farmington is a town in Hartford County in the Farmington Valley area of central Connecticut in the United States. The population was 26,712 at the 2020 census. It sits 10 miles west of Hartford at the hub of major I-84 interchanges, 20 miles s ...

. It is best known for its French

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

masterpieces, architecture, and stately grounds. The property was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

as a nationally significant example of Colonial Revival architecture, built in 1901 to designs that were the result of a unique collaboration between

Theodate Pope Riddle Theodate Pope Riddle (February 2, 1867 – August 30, 1946) was an American architect and philanthropist. She was one of the first American women architects and a survivor of the sinking of the RMS ''Lusitania''. Life Born Effie Brooks Pope ...

, one of the United States' first female architects, and the renowned firm of

McKim, Mead & White McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm that came to define architectural practice, urbanism, and the ideals of the American Renaissance in fin de siècle New York. The firm's founding partners Charles Follen McKim (1847–1909), Wil ...

. The house was built for Riddle's father,

Alfred Atmore Pope Alfred Atmore Pope (July 4, 1842 – August 5, 1913) was an American industrialist and art collector. He was the father of Theodate Pope Riddle, a noted American architect. Family background Alfred Pope's ancestors came to the New World from Y ...

, and the art collection it houses was collected by Pope and Riddle.

House and museum

Hill–Stead was created on as a country estate for wealthy industrialist

, to the designs of his daughter

. Egerton Swartwout of the renowned architectural firm

McKim, Mead, and White McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm that came to define architectural practice, urbanism, and the ideals of the American Renaissance in fin de siècle New York. The firm's founding partners Charles Follen McKim (1847–1909), Wil ...

translated her design into a working site plan, and construction took place over the period of 1898 to 1901. Theodate inherited the house after her parents deaths, and prior to her own passing in 1946 willed Hill–Stead Museum as a memorial to her parents and "for the benefit and enjoyment of the public". She directed that both the house and its contents remain intact, not to be moved, lent, or sold. Hill–Stead comprises , the balance having been sold off during the first years of the museum's operation. Buildings which remain part of the property include the Pope-Riddle House itself (a large mansion built in the Colonial Revival style and once described as "a great new house on a hilltop" by novelist and occasional guest

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

); an 18th-century farm house; a carriage garage with an Arts and Crafts theater; a barn and additional farm buildings. Today, 19 rooms of the house are open to visitors. Remaining as it was at the time of Theodate's death, the house is extensively furnished with paintings, prints,

objets d'art In art history, the French term Objet d’art describes an ornamental work of art, and the term Objets d’art describes a range of works of art, usually small and three-dimensional, made of high-quality materials, and a finely-rendered finish th ...

, and fine furniture and rugs. Highlights of the collection include major paintings by

Eugène Carrière Eugène Anatole Carrière (16 January 1849 – 27 March 1906) was a French Symbolist artist of the fin-de-siècle period. Carrière's paintings are best known for their near-monochrome brown palette and their ethereal, dreamlike quality. He ...

Mary Cassatt Mary Stevenson Cassatt (; May 22, 1844June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh's North Side), but lived much of her adult life in France, where she befriended Edgar De ...

Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints and drawings. Degas is es ...

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. Born ...

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...

and

James McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...

; prints including three engravings by

Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...

(Melencolia I, 1514), 17 copper plate etchings and lithographs by

, and Japanese woodblock prints by artists

Katsushika Hokusai , known simply as Hokusai, was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, active as a painter and printmaker. He is best known for the woodblock print series '' Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji'', which includes the iconic print ''The Great W ...

Utagawa Hiroshige Utagawa Hiroshige (, also ; ja, 歌川広重 ), born Andō Tokutarō (; 1797 – 12 October 1858), was a Japanese ''ukiyo-e'' artist, considered the last great master of that tradition. Hiroshige is best known for his horizontal-format l ...

and

Kitagawa Utamaro Kitagawa Utamaro ( ja, 喜多川歌麿; – 31 October 1806) was a Japanese artist. He is one of the most highly regarded designers of ukiyo-e woodblock prints and paintings, and is best known for his ''bijin ōkubi-e'' "large-headed ...

; eight bronze sculptures by

Antoine-Louis Barye Antoine-Louis Barye (24 September 179525 June 1875) was a Romantic French sculptor most famous for his work as an ''animalier'', a sculptor of animals. His son and student was the known sculptor Alfred Barye. Biography Born in Paris, France, B ...

; about 13,000 letters and postcards including correspondence from

and

; and about 2,500 photographs, including six of

Gertrude Käsebier Gertrude Käsebier (née Stanton; May 18, 1852 – October 12, 1934) was an American photographer. She was known for her images of motherhood, her portraits of Native Americans, and her promotion of photography as a career for women. Biography ...

's art photographs. Hill–Stead's grounds were originally designed in consultation with

landscape architect A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manageme ...

Warren H. Manning Warren Henry Manning (November 7, 1860–February 5, 1938) was an American landscape designer and promoter of the informal and naturalistic "wild garden" approach to garden design. In his designs, Manning emphasized pre-existing flora through a ...

and feature a broad lawn with

ha-ha A ha-ha (french: hâ-hâ or ), also known as a sunk fence, blind fence, ditch and fence, deer wall, or foss, is a recessed landscape design element that creates a vertical barrier (particularly on one side) while preserving an uninterrupted view ...

and slate walkway; artificial pond; and formal, octagonal flower garden. Around 1920,

landscape gardener Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for constructio ...

Beatrix Farrand Beatrix Cadwalader Farrand (née Jones; June 19, 1872 – February 28, 1959) was an American landscape gardener and landscape architect. Her career included commissions to design about 110 gardens for private residences, estates and country ho ...

redesigned the estate's Sunken Garden (1 acre) at Theodate's request. Due to the wartime labor shortage experienced during the 1940s, the garden grassed over leaving only the summerhouse in place. Though it was replanted in time, it was not until the 1980s that the Sunken Garden was restored to exhibit Farrand's original plan.

National Historic Landmark

Hill–Stead was declared a

in 1991. The Hill-Stead has also been the venue of one of the longest running poetry festivals in the country, the Sunken Garden Festival.

Gallery

Image:HillSteadMuseum.JPG, Hill–Stead Museum, South Side of House Image:HillsteadCraftshop.JPG, Breezway of Hill–Stead's Carriage House Image:Hill-Stead Museum (Farmington, CT) - sunken garden.JPG, The Sunken Garden Image:American_Elm_at_Hill-Stead_Museum_Property,_Farmington,_CT_-_July_6,_2014.jpg, American Elm (summer)

References

*''Hill–Stead: An Illustrated Museum Guide''. Farmington, CT: Hill–Stead Museum, 2003.

External links

Hill–Stead Museum, Farmington, Connecticut
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill-Stead Museum Houses completed in 1901 Houses in Farmington, Connecticut National Historic Landmarks in Connecticut Metacomet Ridge, Connecticut Museums in Hartford County, Connecticut Historic house museums in Connecticut Art museums and galleries in Connecticut Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut Gardens in Connecticut Former private collections in the United States National Register of Historic Places in Hartford County, Connecticut Museums on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Connecticut 1901 establishments in Connecticut

House and museum

National Historic Landmark

Gallery

See also

References

External links