Hill-Stead Museum

Hill-Stead Museum, a National Historic Landmark, serves diverse audiences in Connecticut and beyond as a welcoming place for learning, reflection, and enjoyment. The museum develops, preserves, documents, displays, and interprets its exceptional Impressionist paintings, 1901 historic house, collections, and 152-acre landscape for the benefit of present and future generations.

Description:
A National Historic Landmark, Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington is noted for its 1901 33,000-square-foot Colonial Revival house designed by pioneering female architect Theodate Pope. Collections include paintings by Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet, James M. Whistler and Mary Cassatt; original furnishings and decorative art; numerous works on paper; and Japanese woodblock prints--all exhibited in situ.. A centerpiece of the 152-acre property is a ca. 1920 sunken garden designed by landscape architect Beatrix Jones Farrand, and today the site of a summer-long poetry festival. The house is open year-round for tours Tuesday through Sunday, 11 am to 4 pm, November - April, and 10 am to 5 pm, May - October. For tour information and driving directions, call 860.677.4787.

History:
Hill-Stead Museum is a private, educational and charitable entity created in 1946 by the will of Theodate Pope Riddle (1867-1946), an early proponent of historic preservation and the sixth registered female architect in the state of Connecticut. A National Historic Landmark, Hill-Stead boasts a remarkably complete 33,000 square-foot 1901 Colonial Revival house designed by Ms. Riddle for her parents. Today, as visitors tour the period rooms, they see the Popes’ distinctive collections in their original domestic setting including Impressionist and other paintings by Cassatt, Degas, Manet, Monet, and Whistler; Japanese wood block prints; works on paper by Whistler, Piranesi, Durer, and Millet; and Asian and European ceramics. The furnishings in the house include original Chippendale, Sheraton, and Empire period antiques and reproductions. Additional features of the property include a Sunken Garden designed by Beatrix Jones Farrand (1871-1857) and a 152-acre park with extensive stonewalls, woodlands, and hiking trails. The 3,300-volume library and archives for period research are distinctive. The museum does not lend or borrow works for exhibition, yet it offers a rich variety of public programs and outdoor recreational opportunities that lure visitors of all ages back again and again.

Contact person: Cindy Stanley, Office Manager, (phone), (email)
Office fax number: (860)677-0174

Address:

35 Mountain Road Farmington, CT 06032 (See a map)

Directions:

Take Exit 39, I-84. Follow Rt. 4 West to Rt. 10 South (left turn) to Mountain Road (left turn), 1/4 mile up on left. For maps or information, please see http://www.cttransit.com/