"Ventfort Hall: English or American Country House?"
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.
