Gardens and Masterpieces
We’ve been partners with the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, Connecticut for more than two decades. If you’ve never been there, now is the time, as its gardens and pastures come to life. Hill-Stead was the country estate of the Pope family, whose patriarch, Alfred Pope, was a keen art collector. His daughter, Theodate, designed the Colonial Revival house. She was a pioneering female architect who also conceived Westover School and Avon Old Farms School.
View from the Hill-stead's sunken garden
It's fitting that Theodate’s legacy included education; central to the Hill-Stead's mission today, the Museum houses a magnificent collection of Impressionist masterpieces for study and viewing. Centerbrook renovated its carriage houses into modern galleries, which further expanded the Hill-Stead’s ability to bring its story to the public.
A new chapter of that story will be written in July, when one of the renovated spaces, the Glass Room, will be transformed into an art conservation studio. Three paintings – Degas’s Dancers in Pink, Manet’s Toreadors, and Monet’s Fishing Boats at Sea – will be restored by two world renowned art conservators. The room’s glass walls, reset bluestone floors, and museum-level environmental controls create a unique environment that will allow visitors to watch the experts work as they enjoy the grounds, or venture inside for a closer look.
The Glass Room
For us, architecture fulfills its true promise when it helps an institution advance its mission. Seeing the Hill-Stead flourish is extremely gratifying, as is our ongoing association as volunteers, supporters, and patrons. We can’t wait to see what else the future holds!
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