WINTER / SPRING 2016 NEWSLETTER
 
 

Happy 175th Anniversary! Come visit us at Millford during this special year.

Millford is located in Sumter County, SC.

Public tours are available the first Saturday of each month, with tours every Saturday in April. 

(See article below, by Peter Kenny, about the return of an original "swing" dressing glass to Millford.)

 

Wunsch Award recipients Peter Kenny (left) and Morrie Hecksher (right) with Peter Wunsch (center).
WUNSCH AWARD 2016
Christie's 
New York, NY

We are very pleased to share the news that Classical American Homes' own Peter Kenny, Co-President, and Morrie Heckscher, Emeritus Chairman of the American Wing, were the honorees of the 2016 Wunsch Award.
 
Christie's hosted the fourth annual Eric M. Wunsch Award for Excellence in the American Arts on January 20th, 2016 at their Rockefeller Center Galleries. This year the award honors Morrison H. Heckscher and Peter M. Kenny for their dedication and contributions to the field of American Decorative Arts. 
 
Heckscher and Kenny are recognized for "the expansion and modernization of the American Wing at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. They oversaw renovations to the American Wing from 2003 to 2012, which modernized the existing building - comprised of the original 1924 structure and its 1980 expansion - adding galleries for American paintings, sculptures and 18th century decorative arts. They spent much of their careers at The Met acquiring architectural elements, whole rooms and fragments, all for this ultimate installation and update, carrying on the museum's history of collecting interiors."
 
Wunsch Americana Foundation President Peter Wunsch states, "it's an honor to know these two accomplished scholars and leaders in the field, who consistently delivered the best of the best for The Met with such grace and academic rigor."
 
Richard H. Jenrette and Classical American Homes Preservation Trust received the award in 2014. Click here to read more.

Peter Kenny, co-recipient of the 2016 Wunsch Award
Morrie Hecksher, co-recipient of the 2016 Wunsch Award
Attendees at the 2016 Wunsch Award hosted by Christie's
Noah Wunsch, Susi Wunsch, Peter Wunsch, Eric Wunsch, and Roisin McElroy.
Courtenay Daniels, Martha Willoughby, and Daniel Ackermann.
Lulu Wang, Sylvia Yount, Betsy Kornhauser, Leslie and Peter Warwick.
Mike and Lucy Danziger


Welcoming remarks given in the Drawing Room at the George F. Baker House.
WUNSCH Foundation
The George F. Baker House and
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York, NY

To honor and celebrate the accomplishments of Morrie Heckscher and Peter Kenny, the Wunsch Americana Foundation organized a tour of The Metropolitan Museum of Art's American Wing followed by a cocktail reception at the George F. Baker House. Almost 150 people attended the tour led by Alyce Perry Englund, Assistant Curator of American Decorative Arts, which included a discussion about the major acquisitions of 18th and 19th century American furniture, many acquired by Mr. Heckscher and Mr. Kenny as former curators of the American Wing. Special beverages provided by Domaine Chandon and Brooklyn Gin capped the evening! Click here for more images from the Wunsch Foundation.

Wunsch Foundation at The Metropolitan Museum of Art's American Wing
Wunsch Foundation cocktail party at the George F. Baker House
  
Margaret Pritchard, Senior Curator of Prints, Maps, and Wallpaper at Colonial Williamsburg Foundation; and Melanie Christian, Decorative Arts Trust Governor.
AMERICANA WEEK
Winter Antiques Show 2016
George F. Baker Houses
New York, NY

January in New York was an exciting and busy month at Classical American Homes. CAHPT founder and chairman Richard H. Jenrette welcomed guests to the George F. Baker house in New York City to celebrate Americana Week. We enjoyed catching up with friends from Colonial Williamsburg, MESDA, and Winterthur for this annual get together which kicks off the Winter Antiques Show. Thankfully, we were graced with mild weather on the night of the event - in years past guests had to brave blizzards to make it! Please visit our Facebook page to see more photos of the evening and share your own pictures from the party.

Tom Savage, Director of Museum Affairs at Winterthur, and Dick Jenrette.
Robert Leath, Chief Curator and VP Collections and Research; Courtenay Daniels, and Dick Jenrette.
Daniel Crouch of Daniel Crouch Rare Books & Maps; Henry Taliaferro of Cohen & Taliaferro Maps; Daniel Ackerman, MESDA Curator of Collections; Janine Skerry, CWF Curator of Metals.
Barbara Fuldner and John Stuart Gordon.
 

It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got that "Swing"
By Peter Kenny

Fig. 1. Marika and Thomas Smith with their swing dressing glass before conservation.
We've got our "swing" alright, thanks to the generous gift of one of the original "swing" dressing glasses from Millford by longtime friends and supporters Marika and Thomas Gordon Smith (fig. 1), architect and former Chairman of the School of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame. Handsome and architectural, this dressing glass now stands in the southeast corner bedroom at Millford (fig. 2) quite possibly in the place it occupied when it first was uncrated and assembled. Two "swing glasses" packed in their own custom crates are recorded on a June 2, 1841 bill of lading sent from Duncan Phyfe & Son to John Laurence Manning at Millford. Fortuitously, two also survive today, our recently acquired example and a second one in a private collection (fig.3). With four bedrooms and two dressing rooms on the second floor at Millford, however, it was always suspected that there may have been more. Now, due to some surprising discoveries made during the course of the restoration/conservation of the CAHPT dressing glass, it can be stated unequivocally that there were at least three. 
... Read more.

Fig. 2. View of recently installed bedroom at Millford with original "swing" dressing glass by D. Phyfe & Son in left corner.
Fig. 3. D. Phyfe & Son. "Swing" dressing glass made for Millford in 1841. Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Kelly.
   
The guest house at Edgewater.
Edgewater's Guest House
Acquisitions
Hudson Valley, NY
 
In December 2015, Classical American Homes received a charitable gift from Richard Jenrette of the Edgewater Guest House and roughly 2.3 acres of Hudson River-front land, situated on a point across a lagoon from Edgewater in Barrytown, New York. The neo-classical guest house marks Mr. Jenrette's own architectural imprint on the property. Edgewater was originally built in 1825 by Lowndes and Margaret Livingston Brown then sold to Robert Donaldson in 1852. Mr. Jenrette commissioned architect Michael Dwyer to build the Guest House, and it was constructed by Michael Pelletier in 1997-98. 

The house is designed as a small temple, with four Doric columns framing a large porch looking down the Hudson River. The house, viewed from Edgewater's front porch across the lagoon, serves as an architectural folly extending the sweep of landscape to the north. This property includes the main gates and entrance to the property and is an integral part of the Edgewater estate, which will eventually be owned in its entirety by CAHPT. The property also includes part of a scenic, one-mile meandering footpath, largely along the riverbank, which surrounds the estate. Classical American Homes currently coordinates group tours of Edgewater by appointment, which can be scheduled by visiting our website. 

Click here to see more images of Edgewater and some of the fine art, furniture and decorative arts in the collection. 

Ayr Mount's Bicentennial:
An Anniversary Year to Remember
Hillsborough, NC
 
"A Hundred Thousand Welcomes" was the theme for Ayr Mount's bicentennial year - which in Scottish Gaelic is "CEUD MÌLE FÀILTE". The house, built in 1815 by William Kirkland, merchant and family patriarch, was named after his birthplace of Ayr, Scotland. Throughout the year of 2015, we honored Kirkland's roots as well the historic house and extensive grounds that make Ayr Mount a unique place to visit. The celebratory calendar was full of music, dancing, dining, learning, sharing, socializing, and just a whole lot of fun!  

The opening event for this banner year was the Earth Day Fair at Ayr. Visitors ambled on the grounds and the Poet's Walk, planted trees, and learned about a myriad of topics: vermicomposting, recycling, land conservation, and the North Carolina Mountains-To-Sea Trail, which crosses over CAHPT land. 

Friends and supporters at the 200th Anniversary dinner for Ayr Mount.
Keiko Sekino and Andrea Edith Moore at Broadwood Ayr.
Wake & District Pipe Band at the Cèilidh in the Ayr.
A 200th Birthday Dinner held on May 2nd brought 230 friends, patrons and preservationists together for a festive celebratory evening. Music, delicious food, perfect weather and a bright full moon made it a night to remember. Opening with a kilted bagpiper welcoming guests as they arrived and closing with Dick Jenrette leading the group in a chorus of Carolina Moon Keep Shining, it was a true Classical American Homes moment. ... Read more.
 
TOURS AND VISITORS

The 2015 tour season was yet another busy and successful year for Classical American Homes due to the many individuals and groups who visited our properties - and we are looking forward to continuing this enthusiasm in 2016. Thank you so much to all who visited us!

Some highlights from the end of the year include a group from Clemson University's College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities (see photo below, left) to the Roper House in Charleston, SC; The Danish Historians to Estate Cane Garden in St. Croix, USVI; and The American Friends of the Georgian Group (see photo below, right) to the George F. Baker Houses in New York City.

To kick-off the start of the new year, we hosted the fourth annual cocktail reception with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, and Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library during Americana Week in New York (see article above). And, this month, we have been honored with a notable visit from the First Lady of Cyprus, Andri Anastasiades (see photo above), who is married to the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr. Nicos Anastasiades.
 
Although the weather has been unpredictable, as it keeps vacillating between arctic winter and warm spring-like temperatures, the site supervisors at each of the CAHPT properties are working hard to prepare the houses for the many groups who have already made reservations to visit us this year. We are very much looking forward to visits from the Atlanta Ceramics Society, The Thomas Jefferson Foundation, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, The Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Sandlapper Garden Club, and the Historic Charleston Foundation, this spring.

First Lady of Cyprus, Andri Anastasiades (at right) with Margize Howell, Co-President of CAHPT, at the Baker House.
Students and professor from Clemson University, College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities at the Roper House.
The American Friends of the Georgian Group at the Baker House: (left to right) Ralph Harvard of Ralph Harvard, Inc.; Tim Lykins, AFGG Executive Director; William Rutledge of Ferguson & Shamamian Architects; and David Wood, AFGG Secretary.
If you or a group you belong to find yourselves planning a trip near any one of our houses, please consider visiting us. We always look forward to meeting with old friends as well as making the acquaintance of new ones! To make a reservation, please visit our website, www.classicalamericanhomes.org. 
Save the Date
 
Fifth Annual 
Join us in the Double Parlor at Millford - the setting for the fifth annual musical program on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016.
MUSIC at MILLFORD 
Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016

Mark your calendars! The upcoming fifth annual Music at Millford will be held on Sunday, September 18, 2016. 

We are delighted to announce that Robert deMaine, Principal Cello of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, will be both a performer and the Artistic Director of this year's program! He brings his talents as a virtuoso to the "stage" as well as to the planning of a unique concert program that will highlight the setting of experiencing music at Millford. 

Robert will return to Millford with two new guests to perform as a string trio - featuring Nathan Cole, First Associate Concertmaster on violin, and Ben Ullery, Assistant Principal Viola, both from the LA Philharmonic. Do not miss this opportunity to experience world-class music at one of the finest examples of Greek Revival architecture in the country.

To see video clips from last year's performance with Robert deMaine, click here for an excerpt of Brahms and here for an excerpt from Hayden.
 
Robert deMaine, Principal Cello
Nathan Cole, First Associate Concertmaster on Violin
Ben Ullery, Assistant Principal Viola
 
Click here for information about Millford. And, stay tuned for more details about this year's event.

UPCOMING EVENTS - Save these Dates on your Calendar!
 
Peter Kenny to give the keynote lecture at the 2016 MESDA Furniture Seminar
March 18th-19th, 2016
Winston-Salem, NC

The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts will be presenting their annual Furniture Seminar on March 18-19, 2016 with a series of lectures, tours and workshops on the theme Celebrating Fifty Years of Southern Furniture Studies. Peter Kenny, Co-President of CAHPT, will be speaking on Friday, March 18th on "American Furniture: So What's the Point of this Story?"

Please click here or on the image (above right) to see a PDF version of the full Schedule as well as registration information. 


The George F. Baker Houses in New York City, designed by Delano & Aldrich.
Spring Patrons Party 
Thursday, May 19th, 2016
George F. Baker House
New York, NY

Come by for cocktails at the George F. Baker House! Our annual Spring party to thank friends and donors for support of our programs and mission will be held on May 19th. Please check our website in the coming weeks for more information.

Classical American Homes Preservation Trust is dedicated to preserving, protecting and opening to the public examples of classical American residential architecture, surrounding landscapes and scenic trails, as well as fine and decorative arts from the first half of the nineteenth century. Join us in the cause of preserving America's architectural legacy.

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