Tour # 1
Evergreen
House and Homewood House Museums
Monday,
March 6th, 2006
2:00 -5:30 pm
Fee: $40
Evergreen
House is a
48-room historic house museum located on 26 acres
on North Charles Street in Baltimore. An impressive
Italianate building with classical revival additions,
it was built in 1857 by the Broadbent family. It
was purchased in 1878 by John W. Garrett, president
of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, for his son,
T. Harrison Garrett. Throughout the 1880s, T. Harrison
and his wife, Alice Whitridge Garrett, carried out
an ambitious program of renovation and construction
on the estate. Their eldest son, John Work Garrett,
inherited the house in 1920 and continued with his
wife, Alice Warder Garrett, the family tradition
of modifying and expanding Evergreen. Upon his death
in 1942, Mr. Garrett bequeathed the estate to The
Johns Hopkins University, with the stipulation that
the mansion remain open to "lovers of music,
art and beautiful things." Today, Evergreen
showcases the more than 50,000 extraordinary and
eclectic objects assembled by two generations of
the Garrett family.
The Museum includes: the Rare Book Library
which houses over eight thousand volumes. Among
the most notable are Shakespeare's four folios,
a large collection of natural history works including
Audubons and Goulds, 16th century atlases, and the
first illustration of the New World contained in
the printed edition of Columbus' letter to Queen
Isabella. The only extant theatrical sets by Leon
Bakst, the illustrious Russian emigre designer known
for his work with Diaghilev and the Ballet Russes,
on display inside Baltimore's only private theater.
Alice Warder Garrett's large collection of early
20th century paintings, including works by Modigliani,
Degas, Picasso, Bonnard, and Vuillard. Exquisite
examples of Tiffany lamps, vases, and chandeliers.
Outstanding collections of Chinese blue-and-white
porcelain, as well as netsuke, inro, and lacquer
boxes from Japan. Manicured lawns, flower gardens,
meadows and woods with several unique outbuildings,
statuary and walkways.
Homewood
House Museum is located the campus of The
Johns Hopkins University is one of the finest surviving
examples of Federal Period architecture. Designed
as a country house or villa, Homewood reflects the
lifestyle of a cosmopolitan young couple of early
nineteenth-century Baltimore. Its is a classically
inspired five-part house, and it was built beginning
in 1801 on a 130-acre farm located two miles from
the city center of Baltimore. The house and property
was a wedding present from Charles Carroll of Carrollton
(1737-1832), one of four Maryland signers of the
Declaration of Independence, to his only son Charles
Carroll, Jr. (1775-1825) and his daughter-in-law,
Harriet Chew Carroll (1775-1861) in 1800. Charles
Carroll of Carrollton was also the only Catholic
signer and the last surviving signer. The three
other Maryland signers were: Samuel Chase (1741-1811),
William Paca (1740-99), and Thomas Stone (1743-87).
In 1973, an endowment was established to help restore
Homewood as an historic house museum. After several
years of research, archaeological investigation,
and restoration by The Johns Hopkins University,
this remarkable example of early American architecture
opened to the public in 1987.
