Endicott House
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The MIT Endicott House is a conference center located in
Dedham, Massachusetts Dedham ( ) is a town in and the county seat of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 25,364 at the 2020 census. It is located on Boston's southwest border. On the northwest it is bordered by Needham, on the southwest b ...
, about south-west from downtown
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 ...
. The center consists of the Endicott mansion, a Normandy French-style chateau, along with an art lecture facility known as the Brooks Center, and of gardens, lawn, woods and ponds. Since 1955, when it was given to
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
by the Endicott family, it has been owned and operated by
MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the mo ...
. It is one of the oldest such facilities in the United States. Endicott House serves as a meeting facility for many MIT departments and is the primary site of the Senior Executive Program of the
MIT Sloan School of Management The MIT Sloan School of Management (MIT Sloan or Sloan) is the business school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT Sloan offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs, ...
. The house also hosts conferences and meetings for other educational,
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,
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, and
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. It is known for its expansive grounds, about which landscape historian Elizabeth Hope Cushing has said "This is the story of a manmade space that has lasted, altered but unbroken, for over one hundred years, entering the twentyfirst century with the potential to be the magical landscape of General Stephen M. Weld’s initial creation."


History


Grounds

Endicott House stands on a site previously occupied by "Rockweld," the home of
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
hero General Stephen Minot Weld Jr. Weld began designing the vast gardens during the 1880s, and hired the landscape architecture firm of
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- ...
to advise him, although most of the designs were his own. Olmsted designed the steep, winding driveway approach to the house. The property has a varied topography with rock outcroppings, a glacial bowl and steep hills. Weld used the land to create a series of ponds, waterfalls, open vistas, and winding forest paths. The rock garden he designed was described in 1884 as “the first great rock garden in North America.” Today, "Weld’s landscape is nationally known as an early and particularly fine example of the naturalistic style of landscape architecture." Over 500 different species of plants adorned the grounds by the 1920s, including trainloads of azaleas and rhododendrons that were imported from southern states. Eight gardeners and several greenhouses were employed to maintain it all.


Endicotts

H. Wendell Endicott and his wife Priscilla Maxwell Endicott purchased the property in 1931, and knocked down Weld's house, and renamed the estate "Rockwood." Endicott had a fondness for spring-blooming trees and flowers, especially daffodils. On one Sunday each spring, he would open the grounds to the public for them to enjoy. The Endicott House was designed by Charles Adams Platt. The Endicotts were involved in every step of building and decorating the home. They commissioned Italian painters to create the intricate designs on the living room's beamed ceiling and imported marble fireplaces for each room. Upon completion in 1934, Mr. & Mrs. Endicott moved in with their two children, Bradford and Priscilla Endicott, and Martha Endicott, Mr. Endicott's daughter by his first wife, Martha Barron, who had died in childbirth. Today the house retains much original character and
artwork A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literature ...
,
antiques An antique ( la, antiquus; 'old', 'ancient') is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely ...
,
oriental rugs An oriental rug is a heavy textile made for a wide variety of utilitarian and symbolic purposes and produced in " Oriental countries" for home use, local sale, and export. Oriental carpets can be pile woven or flat woven without pile, using v ...
, and
Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...
tapestries Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads may ...
donated by the Endicott family. Endicott's father,
Henry Bradford Endicott Henry Bradford Endicott (September 11, 1853 – February 12, 1920) was the founder of the Endicott Johnson Corporation as well as the builder of the Endicott Estate, in Dedham, Massachusetts. During World War I he served in numerous public c ...
was the founder of the
Endicott Shoe Company The Endicott-Johnson Shoe Company ("E-J") was a prosperous manufacturer of shoes based in New York's Southern Tier, with factories mostly located in the area's Triple Cities of Binghamton, Johnson City, and Endicott. An estimated 20,000 people ...
, which maintained a sales office in Boston and a manufacturing plant in Endicott-Johnson City, New York. His grandfather was
Augustus Bradford Endicott Augustus Bradford Endicott (September 10, 1818 – November 21, 1910) was a Massachusetts state legislator and sheriff of Norfolk County. Biography Endicott, the son of Elijah Endicott and Cynthia (Childs) Endicott, was born September 10, 18 ...
, a businessman and state and local official, and his sister was Katherine Endicott, who left the
Endicott Estate The Endicott Estate is a mansion built in the early twentieth century, located at 656 East Street in Dedham, Massachusetts “situated on a 15-acre panorama of lush green lawn that is punctuated by stately elm, spruce and weeping willow trees.” ...
to the Town of Dedham.


Further reading

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References


Technology Review


External links


mitendicotthouse.org website
{{Dedham Houses in Norfolk County, Massachusetts Massachusetts Institute of Technology buildings Buildings and structures in Dedham, Massachusetts