Linden Place mansion is a

Federal-style Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the newly founded United States between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was heavily based on the works of Andrea Palladio with several inn ...

mansion located in

Bristol, Rhode Island Bristol is a town in Bristol County, Rhode Island, US as well as the historic county seat. The town is built on the traditional territories of the Pokanoket Wampanoag. It is a deep water seaport named after Bristol, England. The population of ...

. It was built in 1810 by slave trader, merchant, privateer and ship owner General George DeWolf and was designed by architect, Russell Warren. The mansion now operates as a historic house museum. Built in the

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his ...

–inspired Federal style, popular in the early decades of the new American nation, Linden Place magnificently reflects the prosperity of the DeWolf slave trading merchant princes and the exquisite Adamesque Federal taste inspired by the architecture of ancient Greece and Rome. Linden Place is one of the best examples of Federal architecture in New England, from the magnificent Palladian windows to the fluted

Corinthian columns The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order ...

, which gracefully flank the front entrance to the mansion. Also of architectural significance are the later added

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

conservatory and four-story spiral staircase. Tour highlights include tales of

DeWolf family The DeWolf family (also spelled D’Wolf or DeWolfe) is a prominent Canadian and American family that traces its roots to Balthazar DeWolf. Balthazar DeWolf Balthazar DeWolf (d. about 1696) is first mentioned in the records of Hartford, Conne ...

exploits, from their privateering and slave trading to their financial ruin and triumphant return to prosperity during Victorian times. Residents included family members

Samuel Pomeroy Colt Samuel Pomeroy Colt (January 10, 1852 – August 13, 1921) was an industrialist and politician from Rhode Island. He formed the United States Rubber Company, later called Uniroyal and the largest rubber company in the nation. Early life and ed ...

, founder of United States Rubber, now

Uniroyal The company formerly known as the United States Rubber Company, now Uniroyal, is an American manufacturer of tires and other synthetic rubber-related products, as well as variety of items for military use, such as ammunition, explosives, chemical ...

, his mother Theodora DeWolf Colt, who as Madam Colt ran Bristol Society from Linden Place as if she were Queen Victoria, and the great actress Ethel Barrymore who married in to this most prominent of American families. The mansion sits on 1.8 acres of sculpture-filled gardens where there are Greek bronzes and an 18th century gazebo. Today the estate is sponsored by the non-profit Friends of Linden Place, which was created in 1989, based on the urgent need to save the magnificent 1810 DeWolf mansion from destruction or development. Due to the formidable drive of the earliest volunteers, the “crown jewel” of Bristol’s historic waterfront district was saved and is today maintained through visitation, fundraisers, grants and memberships. The mansion was prominently featured in '' Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North'', a 2008 film documentary about the DeWolf family and the legacy of the slave trade in the North of the United States.Paul Davis, "The DeWolf Family Burden"
''Providence Journal'', 3 February 2008 It was used as a filming location for the 1974 movie ''

The Great Gatsby ''The Great Gatsby'' is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby ...

''. The Bristol Art Museum occupies the former carriage house at Linden Place, with its entrance located at 10 Wardwell Street, Bristol, RI.

Prominent residents

* Samuel P. Colt, politician, industrialist (died at Linden Place in 1921) * Ethel Barrymore, actress * Ethel Colt Miglietta, daughter of Ethel Barrymore and Russell Colt, singer

References

External links

Linden Place

Bristol Art Museum
{{coord, 41.6714, -71.2762, type:landmark_region:US-RI, display=title Museums in Bristol County, Rhode Island Historic house museums in Rhode Island Houses completed in 1810 Russell Warren buildings Buildings and structures in Bristol, Rhode Island Houses in Bristol County, Rhode Island

Prominent residents

See also

References

External links