During the winter holiday season, we visited beautiful historic Nemours Estate, Wilmington, Delaware. It is located about 31 miles south west of Philadelphia and only minutes away from downtown Wilmington. Nemours Estate was created by Alfred I. duPont in 1909-1910. He was an American industrialist, composer, inventor, financier and philanthropist (1864-1935). Nemours Estate is lesser known compared to Longwood Gardens and Winterthur Estate, but in my opinion, it is the most magnificent out of the three properties. Resembling the gardens of Versailles surrounding the Petit Trianon at the Château de Versailles, Nemours estate grounds are extravagantly landscaped with plantings, fountains, pools, a carillon tower, statuary, and a pavilion surrounded by naturalized woodlands.
Carrere and Hastings, a prestigious New York architectural firm designed the mansion in the late 18th century French style, and Nemours was completed in 1910. Nemours Estate is a masterpiece of Gilded Age design. Built to resemble a French château, its 77 rooms on four floors occupy nearly 47,000 sq ft (4,400 m2). Nemours 200-acre formal French gardens and grounds are the largest in North America. The estate also contains Chauffeur's Garage housing vintage automobiles. Alfred named the estate Nemours, after the French town that his great-great-grandfather represented in the French Estates General. While looking to the past and his ancestors for inspiration, Alfred also ensured that his new home was thoroughly modern by incorporating the latest technology and many of his own inventions. He held 200 patents.
The estate shares the grounds at 1600 Rockland Road with the Nemours Children's Hospital, Delaware, and both are owned by the Nemours Foundation which carries on Alfred I. duPont’s philanthropic legacy. In 1929, before Social Security was established in the United States, Alfred I. duPont created an old age pension plan for Delaware, and funded the program out of his own pocket to help needy men and women all over the State of Delaware. Two years later, his pension program was enshrined in state legislature. The Nemours Children’s Hospital continues to provide health care for tens of thousands of children.
The Nemours Estate went through extensive $39 million renovation and reopened its gates on May 1, 2008. The Nemours Foundation commissioned the renovation work and it was performed by world-class conservators, artisans and craftspeople who refurbished furniture, fabrics, tapestries, interior finishes, paintings, and sculptures. The entire electrical system was replaced, the 800,000-gallon reflecting pool was drained and repaired, and the landscape of the massive formal gardens plantings, constructed design elements, and statuary were also restored. The beautiful mansion contains rare 18th-century French furniture and an eclectic collection of notable antiques, works of art and tapestries. You will find artworks ranging from16th-century religious works to paintings by the European masters to early works by Americans Frederic Remington and Sidney Lawrence. I highly recommend you to visit Nemours Estate.
7 янв 2023
