Page 46 – Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library

Best in Class: 1927 Rolls-Royce Phantom I

With the holidays fast approaching, ’tis the season of Christmas traditions at Winterthur. The annual Yuletide Tour is under way, showcasing Henry Francis du Pont’s former home decorated for the season. In admiring the lavish dining room at its holiday best, it’s not hard to imagine Henry Francis and Ruth Wales du Pont’s Christmas party guests arriving in Port Royal Circle in an array of luxury automobiles of the latest design and fashion, such as a 1927 Rolls-Royce Phantom I.

Henry Francis and Ruth Wales owned more than 40 luxury vehicles during their lifetime, notably several Cadillacs and three Rolls-Royces, including a Phantom V. Thanks to a generous gift in 2008 from the Philip C. Beals estate of Southborough, Massachusetts, Winterthur is the proud owner of a 1927 Rolls-Royce Phantom I Empress. This exquisite vehicle showcases classic design and engineering elements from the 1920s and 1930s—an important era in the Winterthur story that helped shape the country estate as we know it today.
This fall, Winterthur’s beloved Empress won “Best in Class” at the 9th Annual St. Michaels Concours d’Elegance in Cambridge, Maryland. The Concours featured rare pre-war grand classics with European coachwork, wood-bodied cars, and significant sports cars to 1965 as well as fashion and wooden speedboats.

Distinguished within a class of pre-war open cars, Winterthur’s Phantom I was recognized for its elegant design, superlative condition, and well-documented provenance. Sporting a Brewster green body with polished aluminum trim, black fenders with ivory pinstriping, light green wheels, a light cloth top, medium-brown leather upholstery, and a wood dash, the Empress captured audiences’ attention at St. Michaels. Additionally, it successfully participated in a nonjudged 60-mile tour along the Eastern Shore of Maryland, traveling with 30 other historic automobiles from the St. Michaels Concours event. A Winterthur team comprises members of the Winterthur’s conservation, registration, facilities, and public programs departments that oversee the care and display of the car, making it possible for it to participate in such prestigious invitationals.

Since its founding as a British motorcar company in 1904 by Charles Rolls and Henry Royce, Rolls-Royce has established itself as an icon of automobile engineering and luxury across the globe. By the 1910s, Rolls-Royce was struggling to keep up with American demand. A lucrative American market, high U.S. duty taxes on imported cars, and the long shipment time needed for vehicles to cross the Atlantic prompted the incorporation of Rolls-Royce of America, Ltd., with the first American plant opening in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1919. Silver Ghosts were the first Rolls-Royces produced on the Springfield assembly line, and the Phantom series began shortly thereafter in 1926. The impact of the Great Depression demanded a scale back in production causing the plant to close by 1931. The 1,140 Springfield-built Phantoms are the only Rolls-Royce motorcars that were built outside of the United Kingdom.

The Empress’s story began at that very same Springfield plant with its manufacture in 1927—well before its arrival at Henry Francis du Pont’s country estate. While the chassis was constructed by Rolls-Royce of America, the body was built by the Brewster Company—a Long Island coachwork company that Rolls-Royce of America purchased in 1926 to ensure the highest standards of body fabrication for its vehicles. Brewster was the coachbuilder of choice for many wealthy Americans, such as the Vanderbilts, the Rockefellers, and the du Ponts. As early as 1922, Henry Francis had his Cadillacs fitted with Brewster bodies. The Empress was first fitted with a Brewster Lonsdale-style sedan body but was later fitted with a Brewster Ascot body. The practice of changing out bodies on Rolls-Royces and other luxury automobiles was common during this era.
As a result, there are only 28 recorded Phantom I vehicles with this Ascot body, and Winterthur’s is one of them.

Thanks to a well-documented provenance, the Empress’s ownership can be traced from its manufacture to its arrival at Winterthur in 2008. Shortly after her debut in Springfield, Henry G. Lapham of Brookline, Massachusetts, purchased her new in 1928. The Lapham’s 32-acre residence and gardens designed by the firm of Fredrick Law Olmstead (the head architectural firm that designed the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair) was in many respects similar to the country estate setting of Winterthur. In 1936, Lapham traded the Phantom I to Packard Company of Boston. That same year RE Clark, Inc., purchased the vehicle for $250. In 1940, Frederic J. Shepard II (“Fritz”) of West Newton, Massachusetts, purchased her from RE Clark, Inc. Phillip Beals of Southborough, Massachusetts, was the squadron mate of Fritz’s son, Fredrick J. Shephard III (“Eric”), in the U.S. Navy during World War II and became a close friend of the Shepard family. Through this relationship, Phillip Beals became aware of the Shepard’s 1927 Phantom I and eventually bought the vehicle in 1947 for $600 after a brief ownership by Dr. Robert C. Seamons of Marblehead, Massachusetts. The Beals family owned the Phantom I for more than 60 years, including it in their estate gift to Winterthur in 2008.

May 2016 will mark the 10-year anniversary of the Winterthur Invitational—an annual historic auto display that celebrates the finest automobiles of the country-estate era. The du Pont family and the Brandywine Valley have long been associated with the automotive era of the early 20th century, from the building of early roads to Alfred I. du Pont owning the second automobile in the state of Delaware. Winterthur looks forward to welcoming visitors to the Coach House in May to meet the Empress and learn more about historic automobiles from the 1920s to 1960s. Stay tuned this spring for more information about the Winterthur Invitational.

Post by Chase Markee, Administrative Assistant, Academic Programs

Sources:
Landrey, Gregory J., Director, Library, Collections Management & Academic Programs
Rolls-Royce in America, Rolls-Royce Foundation. Accessed December 2, 2015. http://rollsroycefoundation.org/rolls-royce-in-america.html.
St. Michaels Concours d’Elegance, accessed December 1, 2015. http://smcde.org/index.html

Millions of Bulbs?

The upcoming Bank to Bend event on March 9 celebrates the snowdrops on the March Bank, which also features winter aconites, snowflakes, and crocuses—and this year, because of the mild weather we are already seeing daffodils, scilla, and squill popping through the leaf litter. One of the questions that comes up often but that I am always a little hesitant to answer is, “How many bulbs are there in the March Bank?” I always say millions, with my fingers crossed behind my back because, after all, I have not counted them.

I finally decided to resolve this nagging doubt. Using Google Earth, I plotted the area of the March Bank, following the general boundaries of the area that we used for its restoration, but decreased them slightly. I drew a line from the Scroll Garden to the 1750 House, then over to Magnolia Bend, but I excluded the Glade. The area enclosed by this measurement is 6.9 acres, or 300,564 square feet.

Looking at one square foot of the March Bank, I chose an estimate of 10 bulbs per square foot. This number is very conservative—some areas have as many as 40–50 bulbs in a square foot, whereas others have only a few or no bulbs, including the paths and watercourses. So, 10 is probably a fair guess.

Next, I multiplied 300,564 (the number of square feet) by 10 (the average number of bulbs per square foot) and got 3,005,640 bulbs. Even if my assumptions are off by half, it would still be more than a million bulbs. I propose that saying the March Bank has “millions of bulbs” is well within the margin of error.

Please join us on March 9 to see these beautiful bulbs for yourself on a guided or self-guided walk.

Post by Chris Strand, Charles F. Montgomery Director and CEO of Winterthur

So Clean You Can Eat Off ’Em!: The Floors of Winterthur

View from China Hall into the Chinese Parlor, showing freshly waxed and buffed floors

The 175 rooms in the house have a variety of flooring that must be maintained, with the vast majority made up of wood boards. Their width varies greatly, from two or three inches to those in the Maple-Port Royal Hall that measure 24½ inches wide! Some boards have changed over time, warping or loosening slightly, squeaking with every footfall. Several parquet floors remain, including in the Empire Parlor, which you can see on the self-guided Introductory Tour.

Visitors might assume that, at some point, the floors must have been coated with some special material to take the beating of hundreds of footsteps traveling across them—perhaps a low-maintenance substance like polyurethane. In reality, the floors are cleaned by a method that has remained almost unchanged since the museum’s first visitors walked the halls and, quite possibly, even before. It is the simple process of applying a paste wax, then using a buffing machine and brush, to what seems like miles of wood flooring.

Bill Smith, preventive conservation technician, buffing a freshly waxed Montmorenci Stair Hall

At least twice a year, the floors of the main tour route, receive a fresh coat of wax. The smell is pungent and distinct, and the wax leaves the floor extremely slippery prior to drying. After being applied across the grain, it is left to dry with the aid of fans for several hours before being “taken up” with the buffing machine and a clean brush. The result is a glossy yet soft shine and a protective, water-resistant layer.

As people walk along the tour, they sometimes leave scuffs and dirt behind and may even take a tiny amount of the wax with them on their shoes. The wax is gradually worn away and the shine dulls. To maintain the polish and keep the floors clean of soil and debris, the same electric floor buffers, again with a stiff-bristle brush attachment, are run across the boards, this time with the grain. We do this daily in higher-traffic areas and monthly or yearly in areas that are seldom toured.

Eventually it’s time to start the process all over again, continuing the tradition of rejuvenating Winterthur’s floors. Wax on, wax off, buff as needed.

Post by Matthew A. Mickletz, manager, preventive conservation.

Halloween Fortunes

For 14-year-old Helen Weld, Halloween in 1884 meant visiting a local bowling alley with friends where she bobbed for apples and saw her future husband’s initials (F.G.L.) in a mirror. Unfortunately, readers of Helen’s diary are left wondering if this prediction came true since the volume ends the following year.

Helen’s Diary

Friday – Halloween

It poured, so, as I had no waterproof, I did not go to school. I worked and fussed about the house till Bun came and then we plad battledore and billiards. At six thirty we went to a small party at Bowditch’s. Had tea immediately. Dolly & Langdon & Lucy, Tom, Mr Fred B. and I sat at one table (3). After tea we went to the bowling alley where we tried all sorts of tricks. Bobbing for apples and sitting before a looking glass to see your future husband learning his initials (F. G. L.) Grabbing burning fruit out of a pan, etc. till after ten There were about sixteen young folks…

Helen Weld, 1884

Divination games using common household items to predict future happiness, prosperity, and most importantly love were popular in the Victorian era, especially with young women like Helen. Bobbing for apples is still familiar to us now, but do we know the significance of the game? According to Victorian tradition, the first person to successfully grab an apple with his or her teeth would be the first to marry, and the first name spoken after the grab would be the lucky spouse. Apples were also pared in the hope that the peels would form the initials of future spouses after being thrown over shoulders.

Besides predicting marriage and spouses, apples also foretold happiness if thrown through a horseshoe, as directed in Sadie Josephine Dawson’s party games commonplace book of 1906. Apparently, Halloween celebrations and divination games had increased in number and specificity since Helen Weld’s time. Over the course of thirty pages, Sadie records a variety of games using not only apples but also pumpkins, raisins, candles, and needles and thread to foretell the future. She also includes party invitation verses and instructions, fortune sayings, and conundrums or riddles. One listed conundrum is “What nation produces the most marriages? Fa[s]cination.”

Pumpkin Game

Most likey circa 1900-1920, Grossman Collection, Winterthur Library.

Halloween games became big business in the early 1900s as evidenced by this printed pumpkin fortune-telling example. Although the saying hints at either “bright or black” futures, the twelve fortunes on the reverse are all bright ones, such as these two:

“Dame Fortune guides you night and day,
Your stars are pointing true;
Before a month has passed away
Great joy will come to you.”

“Your wedding month is June,
When flowers bloom their best,
And birds all sing a tune
Of sweethearts in their nest.”

May this Halloween bring you all good fortunes.

The Winterthur Library is filled with treasures such as these and offers programs throughout the year, including the Off the Shelf series spotlighting the Library’s collections of rare books, archives, and manuscripts. Join us for a Library Research Open House on October 19, and stop by to see the exhibition Winterthur Library Treasures.

In celebration of the season, we have reposted this blog post written by Jeanne Solensky, formerly the Andrew W. Mellon Librarian for The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera at the Winterthur Library, now Librarian of the Memorial Libraries at Historic Deerfield

Collecting Bulb Seeds

Winter Aconite It seems as though spring has just started and already we are seeing signs of seed-ripening on our earliest bulbs; snowdrops, winter aconite and glory-of-the-snow. When the green seed pods begin to turn yellow, this is a signal to begin collecting the pods. Let them air dry and split open. Then cast the seed where you want to increase your display of bulbs. Gathering the seed of winter aconite is fairly easy as the plant holds its seeds above the foliage. Snowdrops and glory-of-the-snow have heavier seed that tends to fall to the ground, making it a challenge for gardeners who have to sift through foliage to try and find the ripening seed. The yellowing of visible winter aconite seed pods is your cue that there are also pods ripening under the cover of leaves. None of us needs to add anything new to our “to-do” list at this time of year, but spending a few minutes collecting and dispersing seed now is a quick, easy, and FREE way to increase the quantity of a plant. Your efforts will reveal themselves next spring as the young leaves of seedlings emerge to be followed by flowers in 2 or 3 years. At Winterthur we do not fuss about this process; we simply collect the seed, allow the pods to split then cast the seed by hand—a pretty easy process that yields a great reward in years to come.

Got the Blues?

The March Bank is known for its stunning display of blue flowered glory-of-the-snow (Chionodoxa lucilliae) and Siberian squill (Scilla sibirica) that saturate the woodland bank—as well as many other parts of the garden—in late March. Italian windflower (Anemone apeninna) adds to the blue palette in early to mid-April and overlaps with the, slightly later, nodding, brilliant blue flowers of Virginia bluebell (Mertensia virginica) that are still putting on a good show in the garden this week. As we enter May, more flowers are adding their blue to the mix: Jacob’s ladder (Polemonium reptans), wild blue phlox (Phlox divaricata), and English and Spanish bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta and Hyacinthoides hispanica). Camas (Camassia sp.) and Siberian Iris (Iris Sibirica) extend the blue to the sunnier edges of Magnolia Bend. These blue flowers mix beautifully with every color that the surrounding gardens can muster up; whites, yellows, reds, pinks, purples, and greens in varying shades, tones, and hues. Blue helps to strengthen and sharpen some colors while toning down others and works well to blend some otherwise contrasting colors. Used on its own, blue provides a sense of serenity in an otherwise riotous time in the spring flowering landscape. Among the blue flowers, the spiked flowers of the English and Spanish bluebell contrast nicely with the more airy texture of Jacob’s ladder and wild blue phlox to provide a sense of movement and depth within a single-colored massing. Come and share in the joy of the blues and see how you might be able to work this color into your own home garden.

UPDATED Winterthur Azalea Prediction

May 1, 2008 The photograph above was taken this morning of the same area pictured below. We are on track to have beautiful azaleas for Point-to-Point this weekend.

April 29, 2008 Point-to-Point weekend is often the high point of our azalea display and, already, Members and azalea lovers have started calling to find out if this will be the weekend when they reach their peak. Each day’s weather has an effect on the flowering of our azaleas – cool days tending to retard flowering and warm days accelerating the bloom. The photograph above was taken April 29th in a corner of Azalea Woods that comes into flower early, which illustrates one of the advantages of our rolling woodland terrain. With so many different microclimates at Winterthur, you are sure to see beautiful azaleas for several weeks during the spring. This year we will probably have our peak azalea display between May 4 and May 10.

Lilacs in Full Flower

Now is the time to enjoy the fragrance and color of Winterthur’s lilacs in full flower in the Sundial Garden. This garden area was developed in the mid 1950s to create an April display of lilacs, quince, spiraea, and magnolia. The lilacs in flower now are hybrids of the common lilac, Syringa vulgaris. Their colors range from light yellow and pink through many shades of lavender and blue, all with a delightful fragrance.

A Good Year for Daffodils

Winterthur’s daffodil display is one of the Brandywine Valley’s best kept secrets. Planted in drifts by the thousands, daffodils are a visual high note in the garden, flowering in between the peak displays of minor bulbs on the March Bank and azaleas and rhododendrons in Azalea Woods. Planted along the main drive, Clenny Run, and Sycamore Hill, Winterthur’s sweeps of daffodils have remained much the same as when H. F. du Pont planted them. Narcissus had always been a favorite of Mr. du Pont’s, with some of the earliest plantings taking place in the March Bank by 1902. He developed a system of planting that revealed his plantsmanship and knowledge of design. He wrote in the Daffodil and Tulip Yearbook 1961, “Always plant the varieties separately. This is one of the essential and all-important lessons the intending planter must learn, as there can be no comparison as to the more pleasing effect of a bold expanse of one variety than that of a mixture.” Du Pont believed in informal beds, and used the curved and irregular shapes of tree branches to create the outlines for his daffodil sweeps. The results of du Pont’s efforts are still enjoyed today and are a highlight of the spring landscape. A large part of the display can be enjoyed on your drive into Winterthur. The long drift of Narcissus ‘Queen of the North’ along Clenny Run, is just coming into full flower and can be seen to the right as you reach the bottom of the drive. The rest of the display can be seen near Sycamore Hill as you ride the garden tram or stroll through the garden.

Winterthur Azalea Prediction

Please visit our updated prediction on the progress of flowering in Azalea Woods.