Naumkeag (property)

Naumkeag
National Register of Historic Places
National Historic Landmark District
location	Stockbridge , Massachusetts
Coordinates	42 ° 17 '24 "  N , 73 ° 18' 57.6"  W Coordinates: 42 ° 17 '24 "  N , 73 ° 18' 57.6"  W.
surface	19.4 ha
Built	1886
architect	Stanford White , Fletcher Steele
Architectural style	Queen Anne Style
Number of visitors	11,000 p. a.
NRHP number	[1] 75000264
Data
The NRHP added	3rd November 1975
As  NHLD declared	March 29, 2007

Naumkeag is the name of a 48  acres (19.4  hectare ) former estate owned by New York attorney Joseph Hodges Choate . It is located in the Berkshire Mountains in the city of Stockbridge in the state of Massachusetts in the United States and is administered by The Trustees of Reservations organization.

history

The famous blue steps on the property

Joseph and Caroline Choate had spent every summer in Stockbridge as early as the 1870s, so they decided to build their own house nearby. In 1884, Choate asked his friend Charles McKim of the McKim, Mead, and White architectural firm for the planning and execution, but Stanford White took over the majority of the work. The architects built Choate a spacious summer house with 44 rooms and a unique view of the Housatonic River Valley .

The building was built during the Gilded Age , when Andrew Carnegie and Cornelius Vanderbilt, among others, laid the foundation for their fortune. Generous country houses in the European style were an important status symbol at this time. Naumkeag was special in that the owner's family did not live in the building for just six weeks a year, like most other summer residences, but instead lived continuously from April to November.

Naumkeag was the Indian name for Choate's native city Salem , which is why he also chose this name for his summer house. He graduated from Harvard Law School , quickly gained prestige in New York and, among other things, led negotiations before the United States Supreme Court . In 1899 he was appointed US Ambassador to Great Britain by the then President of the United States, William McKinley . His wife Caroline was a co-founder of Barnard College .

The Naumkeag rose garden

Their daughter Mabel inherited Naumkeag in 1929 and for the next three decades worked together with the landscape architect Fletcher Steele to build the gardens for which the property is still famous today. Particularly noteworthy are the world-famous blue levels . Mabel bequeathed the entire property with all objects on it - including furniture and works of art in the house - in 1958 to the Trustees of Reservations for conservation and preservation. Since the reserve opened in 1959, it has been a popular destination for around 11,000 tourists and locals annually. In 1985, the trustees were given a neighboring plot of land, by which the protected area was expanded.

From the end of 2013 until the season opening in 2014, the property was extensively restored.

See also

• List of National Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts
• List of entries on the National Register of Historic Places in Berkshire County

Individual evidence

1. ^ National Register Information System . In: National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service . Retrieved January 23, 2007.
2. ↑ Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: Massachusetts. National Park Service , accessed August 11, 2019.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Property History. The Trustees of Reservations , accessed March 31, 2014 . 
4. ^ Regina Cole: Restoring a Masterpiece. (PDF) In: Design New England. P. 62 ff. , Accessed on March 31, 2014 (English, September / October 2013 edition). 

Web links

Commons : Naumkeag  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Miriam B. Specter: Guide to Fletcher Steele Papers Regarding Naumkeag, 1926-1959. (PDF) The Trustees of Reservations , December 2013, accessed on March 31, 2014 . 
• Carol Stocker: Top historic gardens to visit in the Berkshires. Western Massachusetts claims one of the most significant collections in the nation. In: The Boston Globe . March 23, 2014, accessed March 31, 2014 . 
• Naumkeag on TripAdvisor