Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library

Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library is an historic property in Winterthur, Delaware, founded by Henry Francis du Pont and formerly the home of his family. The 175-room mansion has been converted into a museum of American decorative arts. The 1,000-acre property includes a 60-acre garden, while the research library is an important source of information about American art and culture. The name Winterthur is pronounced “winter tour.” It means “winter’s door.” It is also the name of the small Swiss hometown of the family of Jacques Antoine Bidermann, who married into the du Pont family. The oldest portion of the mansion was built in the 1830s by Bidermann and his wife, Evelina du Pont.

Background

Henry Francis du Pont was born at Winterthur in 1880. He was the only one of six children of industrialist Henry Algernon and Pauline du Pont to survive. His family’s wealth was amassed largely through his grandfather’s gunpowder plant, which did extremely well during the War of 1812. Multiple branches of the du Pont family were involved in running this and other businesses they founded or acquired. Other profitable family ventures were a woolen mill and farming.

The du Pont family arrived in the United States in 1800 when Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours and his sons, Victor Marie and Éleuthère Irénée, migrated from France. Éleuthère Irénée du Pont and his wife, Sophie Madeleine Dalmas, were the parents of eight children, including Evelina du Pont (who married James Bidermann in 1816) and Henry du Pont, who married Louise Gerhard in 1837. Henry and Louise had eight children, among them Henry Algernon du Pont, the father of horticulturist Henry Francis du Pont. H.F. du Pont inherited the Winterthur estate in 1927.

Du Pont greatly loved the grounds of the estate in the Brandywine Valley from an early age. He was keenly interested in nature and plants. He studied at Harvard’s college of practical agriculture and horticulture, Bussey Institution. He took over managing the garden from his father in 1906. He redesigned the formal gardens close to the house. He also created the garden’s first naturalistic design with development of the March Bank. He worked frequently with landscape architect Marian Coffin. Before World War I (1914–1918), he traveled across Europe to study the most significant historic gardens.

In 1914, du Pont took over management of the whole Winterthur estate. He raised prize-winning Holstein-Friesian cows and added chicken, dairy, hog, sheep, and turkey farms, greenhouses, and flower and vegetable gardens. He also added a post office, railroad station, and sawmill. More than 250 workers cared for the animals and grounds, which at its largest covered more than 2,500 acres.

Du Pont, who also had homes in Long Island, New York; Florida; and New York City, always considered Winterthur home for himself, his wife, Ruth, and their two daughters. He amassed a comprehensive collection of American decorative and historic objects. His expertise on the subject led First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy to ask him in 1961 to head the Fine Arts Committee and the White House Restoration Committee.

The original structure built by the Bidermanns was a three-story Greek revival mansion with twelve rooms. Colonel Henry Algernon du Pont added a new façade in 1902 and constructed a library wing. After he inherited the estate, H.F. du Pont hired architect Albert Ely Ives to design an enormous addition to house his growing collection of art, furniture, and decorative objects.

Throughout construction, du Pont closely monitored the work, asking Ives how the attic would be ventilated and where mechanics would access the elevator to make repairs, for example. The work, which was completed in 1931, also included changes to some existing rooms. He had purchased a set of Chinese wallpaper that he wanted featured, so a wall was removed between two rooms—one in the library wing and one in H.F. du Pont’s addition—to create the Chinese Parlor.

H. F. du Pont frequently showed his collections and house off to visitors. In time, he built and moved into a smaller house on the property. He turned the mansion over for public access as the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, which opened its doors in 1951. A feature on the new museum in the Saturday Evening Post warranted that publication’s first use of color photography.

Overview

The du Pont collection of American furniture and decorative arts made between 1640 and 1860 includes more than 89,000 antiques. Among these is a 1737 Pennsylvania chest, du Pont’s first American antique purchase, which is displayed in the Tappahannock Room. The rooms of the museum are decorated in a range of styles and include interiors du Pont saved from demolition of old houses. Furnishings include Chippendale furniture, Colonial Windsor chairs, and Shaker objects. Du Pont also collected portraits of historically significant Americans, usually by American painters, that would complement his furnishings. Among the collection of more than 450 paintings in the museum’s collection are Commissioners of the Preliminary Peace Negotiations with Great Britain, an unfinished work by Benjamin West painted 1783–1784, and a portrait by John Trumbull of General George Washington standing beside his horse, Blueskin, that was given by the artist to Martha Washington. The museum also boasts more than four thousand prints and maps related to Colonial-era America.

The grounds include a Quarry Garden, Sundial Garden, Pinetum, Azalea Woods, Peony Garden, and an Enchanted Woods designed to delight children. The 60-acre naturalistic garden is regarded as one of the best in the United States. Du Pont selected specimens for color and harmony in his plantings. The garden architecture is designed with care to ensure views in every direction are pleasing to the eye.

Winterthur and the University of Delaware are partners in offering two graduate programs. The Winterthur Program in American Material Culture (WPAMC) is a two-year program. It was established in 1952, soon after the museum opened. The Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation (WUDPAC) was created in 1974. This is a three-year masters level program and one of only five graduate conservation programs in North America.

The Winterthur library contains four major collections: Printed Books and Periodicals, the Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, a Visual Resources Collection of photographs, and the Winterthur Archives. The library is valuable to individuals conducting scholarly research on many topics. Fellows research consumer culture, design history, decorative arts, landscape architecture and design, and social and cultural history, among other topics. Like much of the property, the library is open to the public.

Bibliography

“About H. F. du Pont.” Winterthur Museum, Gardens & Library, 2021, www.winterthur.org/about-h-f-du-pont/. Accessed 5 May 2021.

Moskow, Shirley. “Henry Francis du Pont: Brief Life of a Passionate Connoisseur: 1880 – 1969.” Harvard Magazine, July-Aug. 2003, www.harvardmagazine.com/2003/07/henry-francis-du-pont.html. Accessed 6 May 2021.

“Paintings & Prints.” Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, 2021, www.winterthur.org/paintings-prints/. Accessed 6 May 2021.

“School Programs.” Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, 2021, www.winterthur.org/programs-and-events/school-programs/. Accessed 6 May 2021.

“The Story of Winterthur.” Winterthur Store, 2021, www.winterthurstore.com/category/80/The-Story-of-Winterthur.html. Accessed 6 May 2021.

Wilkie, Carter. “Collector on a Grand Scale: The Horticultural Visions of Henry Francis du Pont.” Harvard College, 21 May 2020, arboretum.harvard.edu/stories/collector-on-a-grand-scale-the-horticultural-visions-of-henry-francis-du-pont/. Accessed 5 May 2021.

“Winterthur Museum and Gardens.” National Endowment for the Humanities, www.neh.gov/programinstitutefellowship/winterthur-museum-and-gardens. Accessed 6 May 2021.

“Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library.” American Public Gardens Association, www.publicgardens.org/about-public-gardens/gardens/winterthur-museum-garden-and-library. Accessed 6 May 2021.