Tag Archives: Zelia Hoffman

Nineteenth-Century Women Lean In

Posted on March 4, 2022 by mansionmusings

In honor of Women’s History Month, BPMM Education Committee Chair and board member Joseph P. Cordasco discusses the different lives of two women—both born in the nineteenth century—whose portraits hang at Bartow-Pell. When I tour historic places, I often wonder … Continue reading →

Zelia Hoffman Does It Again: Untold Stories of the 1916 Flower Show at Bartow

Posted on May 24, 2021 by mansionmusings

Why is a long-forgotten flower show still relevant over one hundred years later? And why was a woman named Zelia Hoffman once a galvanizing force in the gardening world? A little digging into the past reveals some answers. On a … Continue reading →

Posted in Garden Musings | Tagged 1916 June Flower Show, 620 Fifth Avenue, Arthur Herrington, Bartow mansion, Biltmore Hotel, Caroline Crawford folk dancing, Carrere & Hastings, Charles Frederick Hoffman, Delano & Aldrich, Demolished buildings in New York City, F. R. Pierson, Flower shows in the early 20th century, Garden clubs in the early 20th century, Gardening in the early 20th century, Grand Central Palace, International Flower Show, International Garden Club, Mrs. Charles Frederick Hoffman, Mrs. Edward Henry Harriman, Mrs. Frank Sullivan Smith, Pelham Bay Park, Wallace R. Pierson, Zelia Hoffman | 1 Comment

Rose Garden Mania: A New York City Garden Club Joins the Craze in 1917

Posted on July 11, 2020 by mansionmusings

Rose gardens were definitely a thing in the early 20th century. The so-called Queen of Flowers—redolent of summer pleasures—filled gardens large and small with a heady mix of colors, scents, shapes, and sizes that ranged from subtle to dramatic. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Garden Musings, Mansion Musings | Tagged Armsea Hall rose garden, Arthur Herrington, Beatrix Farrand, Frances Benjamin Johnston, Garden clubs in the early 20th century, International Garden Club, International Garden Club rose garden, Iselin rose garden at New Rochelle, Journal of the International Garden Club, Jules Gravereaux, Madame Caroline Testout rose, Madame Ravary rose, Mrs. Charles Frederick Hoffman, Pelham Bay Park, Rose gardens, Rose gardens and World War I, Rose gardens in the early 20th century, William Adams Delano, Zelia Hoffman | 2 Comments

Alice Vaughan-Williams Martineau: An Englishwoman’s Crusade to Cultivate American Gardeners

Posted on June 26, 2019 by mansionmusings

On September 24, 1913, the British writer and garden designer Alice Martineau (ca. 1865–1956) set sail from Southampton for New York on the White Star Line’s legendary RMS Olympic, the enormous luxury ocean liner that was the sister ship of … Continue reading →

Posted in Garden Musings, Mansion Musings | Tagged Alice Martineau, Armsea Hall, Cottage gardens, Edith Wharton, Frances Benjamin Johnston, Garden clubs in the early 20th century, Gardening in Sunny Lands, Hurst Court Berkshire, International Garden Club, John Munro and Mary Beecher Longyear, Margaret Waterfield, Martin C. Ebel, Mattie Edwards Hewitt, Mrs. Charles Frederick Hoffman, Mrs. Philip Martineau, RMS Olympic, The Herbaceous Garden, Wellsbridge Cottage, William Robinson, Zelia Hoffman | 3 Comments

A Botanical Paradise: Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London

Posted on January 6, 2019 by mansionmusings

One summer day in 2009, while rummaging through some uncatalogued volumes in Bartow-Pell’s collection of antiquarian gardening books, we unearthed something unexpected—seven large editions of the lavishly illustrated publication Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London. The title is businesslike, … Continue reading →

Posted in Garden Musings, Mansion Musings | Tagged 19th-century botanical prints, 19th-century horticulture, Alice Martineau, Barbara Cotton, Charles Francis Greville, Charles John Robertson, Chiswick, International Garden Club, John Braddick, John Lindley, John Wedgwood, Joseph Sabine, Royal Horticultural Society, Sir Joseph Banks, Thomas Andrew Knight, Thomas Maitland Cleland, Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London, William Bulmer, William Hooker, William Say, Zelia Hoffman | 1 Comment

Fresh Farm Milk from a Historic Estate: How a New York City Garden Club Helped the War Effort in 1918

Posted on March 25, 2018 by mansionmusings

It was time to step up. One hundred years ago, America had entered the First World War, and patriotic civilians were eager to contribute on the home front to help defeat the Germans. Meanwhile, milk prices in New York City … Continue reading →

Posted in Mansion Musings | Tagged Alice Lakey, Dairy farming, Edward Burnett, Frederick Law Olmsted, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., Infant and Maternal Health in World War I, International Garden Club, James Hamilton, John F. Hylan, Mayor's Committee of Women on National Defense, Milk Price Fixing in World War I New York City, Mrs. Charles Frederick Hoffman, Nevis Estate, Nevis Irvington, New York City Tenements, New York Nursery and Child's Hospital, Theodore Roosevelt, Union Settlement, Vanderbilt Clinic, World War I, World War I Convalescent Hospitals, World War I Hospitals in Country Houses, World War I Milk Prices, World War I War Efforts New York City, World War I Women's Work, Zelia Hoffman | 3 Comments

Sleeping Beauty: A Romantic Ruin Awakes

Posted on January 27, 2018 by mansionmusings

In 1914, the beautiful old Bartow mansion was falling apart. Overgrown ivy crept up the walls and over the windows of the derelict old stone building. Broken glass panes allowed rain, snow, wind, dirt, insects, and small animals to enter … Continue reading →

Posted in Mansion Musings | Tagged Alice Martineau, August Moebus, Bartow mansion, Bronx parks, Day Home for Crippled Children, Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, Gardening clubs, Gardening in the early 20th century, Historic houses, Historic preservation, International Garden Club, International Sunshine Society, Joseph Hennessy, Little Mothers, Motoring Excursions, Mrs. Charles Frederick Hoffman, Mrs. Philip Martineau, Pelham Bay Park, Philanthropy in the early 20th century, Royal Horticultural Society, The Herbaceous Garden, Treaty Oak, Turnbull mansion, William Turnbull, Zelia Hoffman | 3 Comments

The Irrepressible Zelia

Posted on April 23, 2016 by mansionmusings

International Garden Club founder and Bartow mansion preservationist Zelia Hoffman (1867–1929) was definitely not a shrinking violet. The hard-charging Newport hostess, transatlantic horticulturalist, country house chatelaine, philanthropist, and political candidate was described by the pseudonymous Old Guard gossip columnist Cholly … Continue reading →

Posted in Mansion Musings | Tagged Alice Martineau, Armsea Hall, Blickling Hall, International Garden Club, Mrs. Charles Frederick Hoffman, Zelia Hoffman | 6 Comments