The Mount: The House that Edith built

Edith Wharton built her home in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts in 1902 when she was 40 years old, five years after she had written the seminal design book The Decoration of Houses with architect Ogden Codman, Jr. This was the first text book I read when I attended design school and it's a great book to re-read on occasion. The design of the house was based on the precepts she and Codman set forth in their book - those of a return to classical architectural virtues of harmony, proportion and symmetry. While Mrs. Wharton did consult with architects and landscape designers, she was the guiding force behind every detail of the house. In photographs, the mansion looks quite large, but in person, it has a very human scale. It was a time when many wealthy New Yorkers were building their summer "cottages" in Newport, RI - such as The Breakers and The Elms. Houses built on a grand scale - mini Versailles and American-ized European castles. The Mount was built for real living.

Originally set on 125 acres (now down to 49.5 acres), the house is set down a long winding lane. One first comes on the Georgian inspired stables, which is a beautiful building in and of itself.

The driveway winds through a naturalistic setting of lawn and wooded areas. The house eventually comes into view, snuggled comfortably into it's woodsy setting.

While most photos we see are of the garden side of the house, this view is, in fact, the front of the house. Mrs. Wharton believed that a house should naturally progress from outside to inside, drawing the visitor in slowly. (image courtesy of EdithWharton.org)

The front of the house is surrounded by a white washed stone walled courtyard into which a car or carriage would deliver guests. The service areas to the right side of the house are obscured by the high stone walls.

Two statues face each other across the courtyard.
The simple double front door - very reminiscent of many European townhouse entries. A little step up and you're in! (I do hope they do something about the bare lightbulb soon!).
Henry James (in backseat) joins Edith and Teddy Wharton and their chauffeur for a motoring tour through the Berkshires, Oct. 1904. (image courtesy of EdithWharton.org)

A quick walk around to the left side of the house reveals a lovely wrap around veranda. The classical form of the balustrade encases a gorgeous herringbone brick patio that is currently the side of the cafe. A lovely place to dine!
Can you just imagine Edith Wharton and her friend Henry James sitting out here, overlooking the Berkshire Mountains and enjoying their refreshments? The series of French doors open up to the library, living room and dining room (in that order across the back of the house).


Here is the center portion of the rear of the house with a great view of the stunning cupola. Mrs. Wharton's bedroom was on the second floor, in this right hand corner. While she often put out that she wrote at a desk, she in fact did most of her writing in her bedroom, in the mornings, in bed. As she finished a page, she'd toss it to the floor. If she were around today, I'm convinced she be a blogger, laptop at the ready!

Don't you just love the steps built into the lawn leading down from the veranda?


A view of the left side of the rear of the house. The building is built on a hill that runs up to the right, so the left side is perched on a stone foundation - which houses the lower kitchens, skullery and currently, the book store. A view from the left side lawn.
Edith Wharton sold the house in 1911, having lived there for less than ten years.

Stay tuned for my posts on the interiors to come!

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The Mount: The House that Edith built

Edith Wharton built her home in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts in 1902 when she was 40 years old, five years after she had written the seminal design book The Decoration of Houses with architect Ogden Codman, Jr. This was the first text book I read when I attended design school and it's a great book to re-read on occasion. The design of the house was based on the precepts she and Codman set forth in their book - those of a return to classical architectural virtues of harmony, proportion and symmetry. While Mrs. Wharton did consult with architects and landscape designers, she was the guiding force behind every detail of the house. In photographs, the mansion looks quite large, but in person, it has a very human scale. It was a time when many wealthy New Yorkers were building their summer "cottages" in Newport, RI - such as The Breakers and The Elms. Houses built on a grand scale - mini Versailles and American-ized European castles. The Mount was built for real living.

Originally set on 125 acres (now down to 49.5 acres), the house is set down a long winding lane. One first comes on the Georgian inspired stables, which is a beautiful building in and of itself.

The driveway winds through a naturalistic setting of lawn and wooded areas. The house eventually comes into view, snuggled comfortably into it's woodsy setting.

While most photos we see are of the garden side of the house, this view is, in fact, the front of the house. Mrs. Wharton believed that a house should naturally progress from outside to inside, drawing the visitor in slowly. (image courtesy of EdithWharton.org)

The front of the house is surrounded by a white washed stone walled courtyard into which a car or carriage would deliver guests. The service areas to the right side of the house are obscured by the high stone walls.

Two statues face each other across the courtyard.
The simple double front door - very reminiscent of many European townhouse entries. A little step up and you're in! (I do hope they do something about the bare lightbulb soon!).
Henry James (in backseat) joins Edith and Teddy Wharton and their chauffeur for a motoring tour through the Berkshires, Oct. 1904. (image courtesy of EdithWharton.org)

A quick walk around to the left side of the house reveals a lovely wrap around veranda. The classical form of the balustrade encases a gorgeous herringbone brick patio that is currently the side of the cafe. A lovely place to dine!
Can you just imagine Edith Wharton and her friend Henry James sitting out here, overlooking the Berkshire Mountains and enjoying their refreshments? The series of French doors open up to the library, living room and dining room (in that order across the back of the house).


Here is the center portion of the rear of the house with a great view of the stunning cupola. Mrs. Wharton's bedroom was on the second floor, in this right hand corner. While she often put out that she wrote at a desk, she in fact did most of her writing in her bedroom, in the mornings, in bed. As she finished a page, she'd toss it to the floor. If she were around today, I'm convinced she be a blogger, laptop at the ready!

Don't you just love the steps built into the lawn leading down from the veranda?


A view of the left side of the rear of the house. The building is built on a hill that runs up to the right, so the left side is perched on a stone foundation - which houses the lower kitchens, skullery and currently, the book store. A view from the left side lawn.
Edith Wharton sold the house in 1911, having lived there for less than ten years.

Stay tuned for my posts on the interiors to come!

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Travel Tuesday: Dining in the Berkshires

I've been posting about my trip over the weekend to the Berkshires and any good trip includes good food, of course! I wanted to share some of the delicious locations and foods we ate over the weekend.

The first evening we were there, we ate at Alta Restaurant & Wine Bar right in Lenox Center. By the way - don't blink or you'll miss the center. It's very tiny! I wanted to take photos of the restaurant, but didn't want to disturb other diners, so have to be satisfied with the images on their website. It was raining that evening (of course, it's been raining a lot here recently!), and the covered porch seating was delightful! The food was quite tasty, including a goat cheese and walnut salad, grilled steak and fries. My friend had the duck and reported that it was quite nice. We ordered wine by the glass and even so, we were shown the bottle and offered a taste prior to making the commitment. A nice touch.


On Friday, we visited Edith Wharton's home and enjoyed a lovely luncheon on the back veranda under a striped awning, overlooking the gardens. I had the delicious tarragon chicken salad on a ciabatta roll with a side of carrot salad and iced coffee while my friend Rob had quiche and lemonade. Tasty! By the way, take note of the herringbone pattern of the brick floor - loved it!

The big draw of Lenox and the Berkshires is, of course, Tanglewood! We attended concerts on Friday and Saturday night, dining on the lawn along with thousands of others. Some folks really went all out - including silver candelabra, flowers and lots of food! This image shows the break between the Shed and the lawn seats. At $16, the lawn is a great deal!

I would highly suggest the use of the classic little red wagon as both mode of transporting picnic baskets, chairs and food. Plus, it made for an excellent dinner table! For our picnic al fresco, I borrowed a red mini-check tablecloth and napkins from my mother, which I made for her several years ago and did a little shopping at The Christmas Tree shops for some inexpensive dishes, glassware and utensils. I spent less than $20 for the baskets, melamine lobster plates, plastic tumblers (stemmed glasses are too likely to spill!), silverware and a candle under glass. It made everything so easy (and light!). We dined on baguettes, different cheeses and crackers, apples and wine. Yum! What is it about eating outdoors that makes everything seem so tasty!
Here was the table of one of our neighbors. It got a lot of attention from photographers. I loved the sunflowers in a vase. Later in the evening, they had a couple of candles going.
The last day we went out for brunch and found ourselves at the Haven Cafe & Bakery. It's a casual place, bustling with patrons and servers.

I forgot to photograph our food prior to eating it, but as you can tell, it was tasty! I had croissant french toast with scrambled eggs (which were cold, unfortunately) and Rob had eggs benedict and hash browns. Even with the cold eggs, yum!
I really enjoyed the casual ambiance and simple decor of the restarant. The floor is gorgeous and the chairs were quite beautiful and of higher quality than one normally gets in such a restaurant.How cute is this chandelier?!?
And the busy order area. Everything looked so delicious!
I hope you enjoyed my dining tour of the Berkshires for this Travel Tuesday post!

And please enjoy all the wonderful posts over at Between Naps on the Porch's Tablescape Thursday!

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