Cultural Landscape Report for Weir Farm National Historic Site, Volume 1: Site History and Existing Conditions
Child Associates, Zaitzevsky C, NPS Northeast Regional Office. 1996. Cultural Landscape Report for Weir Farm National Historic Site, Volume 1: Site History and Existing Conditions. Cultural Landscape Report. Cultural Landscape Publication No. 6. Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation. Northeast Regional Office/Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation
The Weir Farm National Historic Site is located in Ridgefield and Wilton, Connecticut. Acquired by the National Park Service (NPS) in 1990, it is the only national park dedicated to the stewardship of a property associated with an American painter. As the home and workplace of the eminent American impressionist painter J. Alden Weir, the landscape of Weir Farm has been captured in many of his paintings and sketches and is therefore of national historic importance. In addition, Weir’s daughter Dorothy painted at the farm while her husband, Mahonri Young, made many sketches of the landscape and sculpted in his on-site studio. The 153-acre property was acquired by Weir in 1882. By the time he purchased the farm, Weir had attained a reputation for his artistic ability. He and his family resided primarily in New York City, spending summers at the Connecticut Farm. During his ownership, he made several alterations to the structures and expanded the property boundaries, which totaled 238 acres at Weir’s death in 1919. The farm remained under the ownership of Weir’s descendants until 1957. Doris and Sperry Andrews, fellow artists and friends of Mahonri Young, owned and cared for the property from 1958 to 1990, when it was acquired by the Trust for Public Land and subsequently the NPS. A site chronology from ca. 1779 to the present is included in this report, with the most detailed site history covering the years of J. Alden Weir ownership (1882-1919). The purpose of this Cultural Landscape Report is to thoroughly document and interpret the evolution of the site. It is intended to aid the National Park Service in the planning and management of the Weir Farm property. Detailed information relating to historic structures can be found in the Historic Structures Reports, which are underway at the present time. Information on historic furnishings is available in the Historic Furnishings Report. This report is divided into chapters based on the various periods of ownership of Weir Farm. Period plans were developed by Child Associates, Inc., and Cynthia Zaitzevsky Associates for the years 1919 and 1947, corresponding to the deaths of J. Alden Weir and Dorothy Weir Young, respectively. A discussion of the methodology and the specific sources used in the preparation of specific period plans can be found prior to each period plan. Some landscape features, such as the Victory Garden, were created and lost between the dates of the period plans and therefore do not appear on either of the plans. However, these features are discussed in the text. While the site and its documentation help provide a rich image of life at the Weir Farm during these years, areas of the landscape such as the portions used for farming have been difficult to document. There are also no surviving site design plans, since the families did not seem to have used professional landscape architects or designers. The reliance on personal photographs also creates incomplete documentation of the landscape, as the available photos are oriented towards structures and the center of the property.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Child Associates; Zaitzevsky, Cynthia; NPS Northeast Regional Office
- Date of Issue
- 1996
- Publisher
- Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation
- Units
- HIST , NER , WEFA
- Keywords
- Agriculture, Albert Pinkham Ryder, American impressionist painter, art, artist, Charles Adams Platt, Childe Hassam, Cora Weir Burlingham, Crops, Cultural Resources, Dorothy Weir, Ecole des Beaux Arts, ehistory, Ella Weir, Flower Garden, Harvest, hedgerows, History, horticulture, impressionism, J. Alden Weir, Landscape, Livestock, Mahonri Young, Management, Orchard, paintings, Plant Studies, Pond, rocky fields, Secret Garden, Soils, stone walls, Studio, Sunken Garden, Vegetation, Vistas, watercolors, Weir Farm Heritage Trust, Weir Farm National Historic Site, William Webb
- Subjects
- CRIS-CL: 650059: Weir Farm NHS Landscape