Wheatleigh is a historic country estate on West Hawthorne Road in

Stockbridge, Massachusetts Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,018 at the 2020 census. A year-round resort area, Stockbridge is h ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Built in 1893 to a design by

Peabody and Stearns Peabody & Stearns was a premier architectural firm in the Eastern United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the firm consisted of Robert Swain Peabody (1845–1917) and John Goddard Stearns J ...

, it is one of the few surviving great

Berkshire Cottages America's Gilded Age, the post-American Civil War, Civil War and post-Reconstruction era of the United States, Reconstruction era, from 1865 to 1901 saw unprecedented economic and industrial prosperity. As a result of this prosperity, the nation's ...

of the late 19th century, with grounds landscaped by

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co- ...

. Its estate now reduced to , Wheatleigh was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1982. It is now operated as a hotel.

Description and history

Wheatleigh is located in far northeastern Stockbridge, just south of the

Tanglewood Tanglewood is a music venue in the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. It has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937. Tanglewood is also home to three music schools: the T ...

facility of the

Boston Symphony Orchestra The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the " Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 1881, ...

on the east side of West Hawthorne Road. The estate is located atop a knoll from which there are commanding views of

Stockbridge Bowl Stockbridge Bowl, also known as Lake Mahkeenac, is a artificially impounded body of water that is 4 km (2.5 mi) north of the village of Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Above the lake's north side with sweeping views to the south is Tangle ...

to the west. The remnant portion of the estate includes only the main house and water tower of the formerly property, which also included greenhouses, a large garage with apartments above, an icehouse, barn, and three gatehouses. The house is a large -story masonry building, with Mediterranean Revival styling. It is organized in a U shape, with a central main block, a bedroom wing to the north, and a loggia and "summer house" to the south. It is built out of buff brick with terra cotta trim. The water tower is in height, built out brick in three octagonal stages, and was one of the tallest structures in Berkshire County when it was completed. Henry H. Cook was a New York-based businessman who made his fortune in the railroad and banking businesses. He purchased the undeveloped estate land in 1892, and oversaw construction and landscaping of the property. He named it Wheatleigh, in homage to his family's ancestral home,

Wheatley, Oxfordshire Wheatley is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about east of Oxford. The parish includes the hamlet of Littleworth, which is immediately to the west of Wheatley village. The 2011 census recorded the parish population as 3,913. Archae ...

. The house, designed by the

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

architectural firm of

, received notice in architectural publications, and was described by

Charles McKim Charles Follen McKim (August 24, 1847 – September 14, 1909) was an American Beaux-Arts architect of the late 19th century. Along with William Rutherford Mead and Stanford White, he provided the architectural expertise as a member of the partn ...

as one of the best examples of modern Italian Villa architecture. The property passed to Cook's daughter, Gloria de Heredia, who opened the formal gardens on the grounds for vespers church services in the summer, and was a financial backer behind the establishment of Tanglewood. The estate was sold out of the Cook family in 1946, and the house grounds were subdivided off soon afterward. The property was owned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra between 1949 and 1957. Since 1976 it has served as a hotel.

References

External links

Wheatleigh
Official website {{The Leading Hotels of the World, North America Houses completed in 1893 Houses in Berkshire County, Massachusetts Peabody and Stearns buildings Stockbridge, Massachusetts Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Berkshire County, Massachusetts Hotels in Massachusetts Gilded Age mansions

Description and history

See also

References

External links