Hillwood Museum and Gardens 
Washington DC 20008
Listed in: Botanical Garden, Museum
Neighborhood: Forest Hills/Van Ness
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The Georgian-style mansion, designed by John Deibert in 1926, was originally built for Mrs. Henry Parsons Erwin. In decorating Hillwood, Marjorie Merriweather Post hired the New York architect Alexander McIlvaine to redesign and expand the old mansion completely so that visitors could view her by-now extensive collection with greater ease. Japanese Garden in winterIn renovating the mansion and gardens in the 1950s, Mrs. Post was reviving a forty-year-old practice of estate building now known as the American country house tradition. Architectural historian Richard Guy Wilson has described this tradition as one created by wealthy Americans between 1880 and 1930, who, during that period, commissioned large houses for escape and relaxation on relatively limited tracts of land near major urban centers. Such homes were in the country, but remained close enough to cities to afford an easy commute. Indeed, in the 1920s, the property would have been a rural suburb of Washington. While no one style of building dominated, these country homes had several characteristics in common. The house at Hillwood, like many other examples of this tradition, includes many spacious areas such as a grand entrance, large libraries, and a pavilion in which guests could dance or watch movies. The estate also had to offer many outlets for outdoor pleasures and sport. So, such houses had to be surrounded by formal and informal gardens. At Hillwood, guests could wander among the azaleas or hone their golfing skills on the putting green. For the owner and visitors, the estate was to be a site where they could enjoy sophisticated urban pleasures within a peaceful and inviting setting.
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