May in the Garden State

So many exciting events are happening in New Jersey this month!

On May 2, a team of specialists from Doyle traveled to the Montclair Office of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New Jersey Properties for a Consignment Day co-hosted with the Montclair office manager Jane Konzelmann and her real estate team. We hope to meet with collectors in other communities in the months ahead during Consignment Days co-hosted with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices offices in other areas of New Jersey.  

May in Montclair

Doyle is pleased to participate once again in May in Montclair, a month-long festival of art shows, concerts, garden tours, health and exercise programs and many more exciting events that celebrate all that Montclair has to offer. The events are made possible through advertising from local businesses and not-for-profit associations, many of whom have supported this event for over thirty years. The May in Montclair Committee oversees the fall planting of over 20,000 Holland tulip bulbs, which bloom at the beginning of May and kick off the May in Montclair festival. Be sure to mark your calendar for the Montclair Art Walk on Friday,  May 19 at 6pm.  

May in Montclair runs through May 31. For more information, visit MayinMontclair.com

Mansion in May

On May 3, I traveled to Morris Township for the 18th Annual Mansion in May and was greeted by the event co-chair Megan Cassie Schubiger. This year’s Mansion is being held at Alnwick Hall - The Abbey. Presented by the Women’s Association for Morristown Medical Center (WAMMC), this year’s event is also celebrating the 125th anniversary year of the Morristown Medical Center. Since 1974, the WAMMC has raised over $10 million in support of worthy causes at Morristown Medical Center, which was founded in 1872.

The Women’s Association hosted its first Mansion in May at Upton Pyne in 1974. In 1898, Percy R. Pyne bought 200 acres on Bernardsville Mountain, and the construction of the stone house, designed by Lawrence Aspenwaul, began in 1899. The estate was named after Upton Pyne in Devon, England, his family’s ancestral manor. The first decorators to be invited in 1974 were Sister Parish, Angelo Donghia and our dear friend Mario Buatta. Giralda Farms owned by the late Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge was the site of a subsequent Mansion in May. It was was built in 1893 by the architectural firm from Clinton & Russell. Moving ahead to 2014, the event was held at Blairsden, one of the finest examples of Beaux-Arts architecture in the United States.  Designed by the renowned and influential New York architecture firm of Carrère and Hastings, it was built as a grand country retreat for C. Ledyard Blair and his family.

This year’s Mansion, known as The Abbey, is a 20,000-square-foot brick mansion designed for Rosalie and Edward Meany by architect, Percy Griffin, and built between 1903 and 1904. It was based on various 15th and 16th century English models, including Alnwick Castle in Northumberland, England. Alnwick’s stained glass windows were created by the noted artist, Otto Heinigke. The Meanys were known for hosting many lavish events in their home, which were often catered by the famed Delmonico’s restaurant of New York City.

This year’s talented interior designers managed to make each room evoke many moods, whether it be serenity in the room by Sagri Frieber, pure decadence by Barbara Ostrom, romanticism by Jessica Reilly, and exoticism found in Elizabeth Guest's room aptly titled A Passage to Persia. Living in a New York City apartment, I found Michael Curren and Richard Barr’s Left Bank Loft to be the absolute perfect pied-a-terre.

Over the past 43 years, Mansion in May has been held every two to three years and is now one of the leading designer show house and garden events in the country, welcoming thousands of visitors. This is a must!

Also on May 3, I attended a lecture in Bernardsville chronicling the full history of The Mansion in May. The lecture was given by Barry Thompson, a prominent historian of the great Somerset Hills estates and families. Mr. Thompson focused on the Mansion in May’s origins, benefactors and many beneficiaries of all the spectacular homes that have been celebrated during the past 43 years.

Mansion in May runs through May 31. For more information, visit MansioninMay.com