Grey Towers National Historic Site
 |
Home Page |
|
About Us |
|
Contact Us |
|
Current Conditions |
|
Employment |
|
FAQ'S |
|
Fire & Aviation |
|
Maps & Brochures |
|
Newsroom |
|
Passes & Permits |
|
Projects & Plans |
|
Publications |
|
Recreational Activities |
|
Volunteering |
Grey Towers National Historic Site |
|
|
|
|
Historical InformationHome > Historical Information > House & Gardens Grey Towers Following
his retirement from business in 1875, James W. Pinchot moved his
family to his hometown of Milford, Pennsylvania and devoted much
of his time to planning and constructing Grey Towers. The mansion
was designed in 1884 by family friend Richard Morris Hunt and completed
in 1886. Hunt's designs were slightly altered by James Pinchot in
order to lower costs and also because of bedrock that was found
just under the surface of the site which made it impractical to
construct the raised foundation. Since Hunt was away in Europe,
James hired Henry Edwards-Ficken to incorporate these changes and
complete the designs. His contributions include the front door,
entrance hall paneling, and the wrought iron porches on the south
and east facades. The design of the house is based on LaGrange,
the French estate of Lafayette, and also in general resembles a
medieval French chateau. The mansion was one of only three medieval
French buildings that Hunt designed and was the first of the three.The materials used to construct the mansion were mostly from the
local area. The roofing slate came from Lafayette, New Jersey. The
stone for the mansion was obtained from the site. The hemlock timbers
were floated on rafts down the Delaware River from Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania
and the decorative bluestone used around the doors and windows originated
in Shohola, Pennsylvania. Labor for the house's construction was
provided by local Milford residents and included stone work, plastering,
masonry, carpentry, and general labor. The
L-shaped mansion is anchored on three corners by towers that give
the mansion its name. The house originally contained 43 rooms and
was built as a summer home. The cost was approximately $19,000 with
an additional $24,000 for furnishings.Gifford Pinchot and Cornelia Bryce were married in August 1914
and Grey Towers became their regular summer residence. As Gifford
became increasingly involved in Pennsylvania politics, Cornelia
took a more active interest in transforming the 1880s house that
the couple inherited into a "modern" home, well-suited
to their active lifestyle and prodigious entertaining. The most
significant alterations were made to the first floor plan. The original
dining room and breakfast room were combined to form an enlarged
sitting room, while the sitting room and library were joined to
create a much larger library. Gifford's comments to a reporter for the Saturday Evening Post
in 1922 -"Originally
this house was composed of many little cramped rooms, and the first
thing my wife did was to break down the partition walls and let
in light and air. In this particular room--originally two--the architects
said she couldn't do it, for it involved removing partitions, beams
and a central fireplace. But she did. And, of course, it's a vast
improvement. She's revised and edited and altered this house practically
beyond recognition. S he will never be done. As soon as one thing
is finished, and I think we'll have peace, she breaks out in a fresh
spot, and the hammering and revising begin anew."Cornelia's alterations were not limited to the mansion. She engaged
the services of Chester Holmes Aldrich to design a swimming pool
and surrounding terrace built between 1923 and 1925. The raised
pool was enclosed on three sides by a pergola of stone piers and
wooden trellis work. On the west side was a gazebo. Between 1923
and 1926 the Bait Box, also designed by Aldrich was constructed.
It was built as a playhouse for the Pinchot's son, Gifford Bryce
Pinchot. The Bait Box's stone courtyard is flanked by stone walls
with elliptical openings that provide wonderful views of the surrounding
landscape. Cornelia continued her work with Aldrich with the design
and construction of the Letter Box between 1925 and 1927. The stone,
one-story building was designed as an archives for Gifford Pinchot's
papers and as an office for some of Pinchot's political staff. No "castle" is complete without a moat so one was added by
Cornelia and Aldrich between 1927 and 1931. The construction of
the moat required that the east lawn be extended and leveled and
that a new stone wall be built to provide support for the new lawn
and a backdrop for the moat. The moat visually heightens the mansion
and gives the building the raised foundation effect Richard Morris
Hunt had originally intended for Grey Towers. Cornelia's
most unique contribution to the landscape is probably the Finger
Bowl designed by William Lawrence Bottomley and constructed between
1932 and 1935. The Finger Bowl connects to the mansion's dining
room through the Mosaic Terrace and is a unique outdoor dining table
in the form of a raised pool surrounded by a flat ledge of sufficient
width to accommodate a place setting. Chairs were pulled up to the
pool and food was passed in wooden bowls floated on the water. Over
the Finger Bowl, a wisteria covered oval, domed, wooden arbor rests
on an open structure of twelve stone piers. Numerous meals were
served under the wisteria canopy.Grey Towers was donated to the USDA Forest Service in 1963 by Gifford
and Cornelia's son, Gifford Bryce Pinchot, to carry on the conservation
legacy of his father.
|
|
USDA Forest Service - Grey Towers National Historic Site
Last Modified: Wednesday, 28 November 2012 at 15:53:21 EST