The Mount reflected in the flower garden pool.

Rock fountain and pergola in The Mount's walled garden.

The Mount from the flower garden on an autumn afternoon.

The Mount from the walled garden.

Fact Sheet

Location	Lenox, Massachusetts, above Laurel Lake
House Designer	Edith Wharton
Associated Architects	Ogden Codman, Jr. Francis L.V. Hoppin (Hoppin & Koen)
Builder	R.W. Curry
Landscape & Garden Designer	Edith Wharton
Associated Landscape Architect	Beatrix Jones Farrand
Principal Buildings	Main house, inspired by Belton House (17th-century English country house in the Palladian manner), and by neo-classical Italian and French models; two-story superintendent’s lodge, in Georgian Revival style; two-story stable in Georgian Revival style; greenhouse and potting shed
Principal Gardens	Walled garden in the Italian style; flower garden reflecting French and English design influences; rock garden; lime walk; grass terraces; kitchen garden
Land Parcel	Original farm plot of 113 acres bought from Georgiana Sargent for $40,600; additional 15 acres purchased at a later date; plot owned currently by EWR is 49.5 acres
Construction	July 1901 – Autumn 1902
Cost	Main house: $57,619 Stable: $20,354 Lodge: $5,356 Landscaping: $50,000+
Main House Dimensions	Footprint: approximately 138 ft x 65 ft Height: By virtue of Wharton’s decision to site the house on a hillside, with its principal rooms opening onto views of the gardens, Laurel Lake and the Berkshire hills, the west elevation (entrance side) is 3_ stories high, and the east elevation (garden side) is 2_ stories.
Main House Plan	Ground Floor Walled forecourt (approximately 64 ft x 78 ft.) Entrance hall (34.5 ft x 12.5 ft) Staircase hall (11 ft x 18 ft) First Floor (piano nobile) Gallery (38 ft x 12 ft) with barrel-arch ceiling and three tall, arched windows along west façade Dining room (20.5 ft x 25.5 ft) with two pairs of doors opening onto terrace Drawing room (36 ft x 20 ft) with ornamental plaster ceiling and three pairs of French doors opening onto terrace Edith Wharton’s library (20 ft x 25 ft) with four doors opening in from terrace Teddy Wharton’s den (15 ft x 18 ft) Terrace (125 ft x approximately 24 ft along eastern façade, wrapping around to north façade), leading to Palladian staircase and gardens Second Floor (Bedroom Floor) Edith Wharton’s boudoir, bath and bedroom on north end Two guest bedrooms and bath (known as the marital suite) on west side Teddy Wharton’s bedroom, bath and dressing room on east side Largest guest bedroom and bath (known as the Henry James suite) on east side Interior hallway
Service Wing (South Wing)	Ground Floor Servants’ dining room, kitchen, serving room and scullery, laundry room, wine cellar, coal-storage room and furnace room First Floor Servants’ hallway, butler’s room, cook’s room, butler’s pantry, houskeeper’s room Second Floor Linen closet, housemaid’s closet, maid’s room, sewing room, dress closet, bath, stairs to attic floor Attic Floor Servants’ bedrooms (8) and servants’ bath
Subsequent Owners and Occupants	Mary and Albert R. Shattuck and family, 1912-38 Louise and Carr V. Van Anda, 1938-42 The Foxhollow School, 1942-76 The Center Incorporated, 1977-80 Shakespeare & Company, resident theater company, 1978-2001 Edith Wharton Restoration, 1980-present

 

Background

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was born into “Old New York,” a tightly-controlled society that positively discouraged women from achieving anything beyond a proper marriage. Author of The Age of Innocence, Ethan Frome, and The House of Mirth, she wrote over 40 books in 40 years, including authoritative works on architecture and gardens. Essentially self-educated, she was the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (1921); an honorary Doctorate from Yale University (1923); and full membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1930). In addition to being a prodigious author, she was a master house builder and gardener.

The Mount is the turn-of-the-century home that Edith Wharton designed and built based on the precepts outlined in her groundbreaking 1897 book, The Decoration of Houses, co-authored with architect Ogden Codman, Jr. A perfect example of the newly dawned American Renaissance, the classical revival house and its formal gardens represent the only full expression of Wharton’s architectural and landscape architectural theories.

Wharton believed that the design of a house should be treated architecturally and should honor the principles of proportion, harmony, simplicity, and suitability. Gardens, too, she elaborated in Italian Villas and Their Gardens (1904), should be architectural compositions, divided into rooms, and planned in concert with the house and the natural landscape. Recognized as an authority on these subjects, Wharton’s influence on American residential design is considerable.

Only 5 percent of National Historic Landmarks are dedicated to women, and The Mount is one of them. Like Jefferson’s Monticello, it is an autobiographical house, one that definitively embodies its creator’s spirit. When the restoration of the estate began in 1997 – after years of hard use and deferred maintenance – most of the buildings (mansion, stable, gatehouse, and greenhouse) were severely deteriorated and the gardens were lost to overgrowth.