LENOX - Veteran Ventfort Hall guide and University of St. Andrews graduate Nannina Gilder will give a visual presentation on “Ventfort Hall: English or American Country House?” on Friday, August 22, at 4 p.m. She will present her lecture at Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum and a Victorian Tea will accompany it.
Gilder will show evidence that during the 19th century Britain brought about a revival of the Tudor and Jacobean manor houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries. Their rambling asymmetrical plans were more convenient to the Victorians than the strict symmetry that had been favored in the 18th century.
Gilder has guided at the Lenox mansion since it first opened for tours in December, 2000. She recently graduated from the University of St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland, with a first class degree in art history, and received the O.E. Saunders Memorial Prize for her dissertation, “Ventfort Hall: A Synthesis of British and American Architecture.” She is the daughter of George and Cornelia Brooke Gilder.
Reservations may be made for the lecture by calling Ventfort Hall at 413-637-3206. Admission is $15 for nonmembers and $12 for members. The mansion is located at 104 Walker Street in Lenox.
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A more complete summary of what the talk will be.
The 19th century in Britain brought about a revival of the Tudor and Jacobean manor houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries. Their rambling asymmetrical plans were more convenient to the Victorians than the strict symmetry which had been favored in the previous century. So the aristocrat began building the style of his ancestors, and the plutocrat in the style that he wished his ancestors had been capable of. The trend made its way across the ocean, and in the last few decades of the century manor houses in the British style were being built in the American countryside. In 1891 the Morgan family, whose matriarch was Sarah Spencer Morgan, the sister of the juggernaut banker J. Pierpont Morgan, began a summer “cottage†in this tradition, Ventfort Hall in Lenox.
But are revivals able to cross space as well as time and remain intact, or does a style fundamentally change when it has been carried across oceans? Americans are often faulted for lacking our own culture, for taking wholesale the artistic and architectural innovations of others, but is that true? Ventfort Hall was built in a British tradition, but it also in many ways it exemplifies the American country house of its day. What are the differences between a British manor house and an American summer cottage, and how does Ventfort Hall manage in many ways to be both?
An Englishman may find [American villas] mere copies of his own designs … We must, however, remember that for a style to be progressive it must be modified according to its own requirements, and not by wholesale borrowing from others. – Arthur Rotch, Architect of Ventfort Hall
LENOX, Mass. — Jay Craven, American film director, screenwriter, and former film professor at Marlboro College, will present his talk "New England Movies: How and Why" on Sunday, March 1 at Ventfort Hall at 3:30 pm.
Craven will tell the story of his adventures and experiences, developing a sustained filmmaking career in the unlikely settings of Vermont and Massachusetts. A tea will follow his presentation.
He will describe working with a wide range of actors, including Rip Torn, Tantoo Cardinal, Kris Kristofferson, Martin Sheen, Ernie Hudson, and Michael J. Fox. He'll share the satisfactions and challenges that come from immersion into place-based narrative filmmaking.
According to a press release:
Craven's work grew out of years of working as a teacher and arts activist whose mission has been the advancement of community and culture in the region. For four decades he has written, produced, and directed character-driven films deeply rooted in Vermont and New England, including five "Vermont Westerns" based on the works of award-winning Northeast Kingdom writer, Howard Frank Mosher. His latest film, Lost Nation, digs into the parallel Revolutionary War era stories of Ethan Allen and the pioneering Black Guilford poet, Lucy Terry Prince. His other films have adapted stories by Jack London, Guy du Maupassant, George Bernard Shaw, Craig Nova and, currently, Henrik Ibsen and Dashiell Hammett. Craven also made the regional Emmy-winning comedy series, Windy Acres, for public television and seven documentaries.
Craven's films have played festivals and special screenings including Sundance, South by Southwest, The American Film Institute, Lincoln Center, Cinematheque Francaise, the Constitutional Court of Johannesburg, and Cinemateca Nacional de Venezuela. Awards include the Vermont Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts, the Producer's Guild of America's NOVA Award, and the National Endowment for the Arts American Masterpieces program. His film Where the Rivers Flow North was a named finalist for Critics Week at the Cannes Film Festival.
Tickets are $45. Members receive $5 off with their discount code. Ticket pricing includes access to the mansion throughout the day of this event from 10 am to 4 pm. Reservations are strongly encouraged as seats are limited. Walk-ins accommodated as space allows. For reservations visit https://gildedage.org/pages/calendar or call (413) 637-3206. All tickets are nonrefundable and non-exchangeable. The historical mansion is located at 104 Walker St. in Lenox.
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