Winterthur Garden Blog

Maggie Lidz, estate historian writes:

Yesterday, I posted the photo of the very pretty 1737 Pronk plate. It is amazing how similar Winterthur’s Summerhouse is to that early drawing on the plate!

Winterthur’s summer house, situated in the Peony Garden, was from the garden of a Wilmington house which changed its name several times. Located on what is now 4^th and Broom Street, the 1814 house was built by William Warner as a country residence. Warner  named his country house Marengo. In 1826, Warner sold Marengo to Robert Andrews  who renamed it Andrewsia. The Andrews family lived there until 1838 when John R. Latimer acquired it and renamed it Latimeria. In 1929,  HF du Pont bought the garden ornaments after Miss Mary Latimer, the last owner died.  A document in the Winterthur archives gives a short description of the garden in the 1920s:

To the east of the house [Latimeria] was the garden with the box- bordered paths and attractive latticed garden architecture. [WC57]

Winterthur’s garden ornaments of the garden probably date to the third owner of the estate, John  Latimers, a China trader, who acquired the property in 1838. The du Pont family had a long standing relationship with the Latimers. “Sister [Victorine du Pont Bauduy], Henry and Louise went a few days ago to call on Mrs. Latimer. …They have a beautiful collection of greenhouse plants & Mr. Latimer is building stables in the Gothick style which Henry pronounced to be pretty & in good taste. Their parlor is ornamented with many curious specimens of Chinese arts and ingenuity.” [Letter from Sophie du Pont, July 9, 1839 Hagley W9-21383 ]

 By the mid-nineteenth century,  Latimeria was considered one of loveliest  estates in America. Elizabeth Montgomery wrote in her Reminiscences of Wilmington (1851) “the present owner John L. Latimer, who has wealth to enable him to gratify his taste, and who spares no expense in ornamenting this beautiful spot.” Andrew Jackson Downing singled it out in the 1850 edition of his enormously popular book, A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of landscape Gardening Adapted to North America:

Below Philadelphia, the lover of beautiful places will find a great deal to admire in the country seat of John R Latimer, Esq. near Wilmington, which enjoys the reputation of being the finest in Delaware. This place has all the advantages of high keeping, richly stocked gardens and conservatories and much natural beauty, heightened judicious planting, arrangement and culture.