Morven Museum & Garden is pleased to present the 2023 Grand Homes & Gardens Speaker Series: Trailblazers and Trendsetters. Join us as we explore the people and spaces, past and present, who cultivated new opportunities and inspired breakthrough trends for future generations of landscape architects, designers, entrepreneurs, and horticulturalists. Today, these places continue the work of preserving historic and natural landscapes for public benefit and community engagement. The 2023 series will feature Manitoga, Villa Lewaro, Beauport – The Sleeper McCann House, and Bartram’s Garden. On March 8 at 6:30 pm, explore the unique and ornate designs in the summer home of one of America’s first professional interior designers, Henry Davis Sleeper.
Henry Davis Sleeper set many trends as one of America’s first professional interior designers. Sleeper’s unique and ornate design concepts were showcased throughout his summer home, Beauport, in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Here he hosted a regular cohort of artists and intellectuals, navigating early twentieth century society as a gay man. Presented by Kristen Weiss, the Cape Ann site manager at Historic New England, this talk will examine Sleeper’s groundbreaking interior designs, still featured in the house today, as well as Beauport’s architecture and arts and crafts landscape design.
Please note that our speaker will present this program virtually. The talk will be streamed live for an in-person and virtual audience alike. Speaker Kristen Weiss is the Cape Ann site manager at Historic New England; managing Beauport, the Sleeper-McCann House in Gloucester, Mass. and Cogswell’s Grant in Essex, Mass. She previously worked in the American Decorative Arts department at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass. She has developed multiple tours and lectures on historic sites, landscapes, and collections with a focus on American folk art. With an undergraduate degree in History and graduate work in Museum Studies and in Preservation Studies, Kristen has been working with museum collections and historic houses for over twenty-five years. $10 – $30 – Register HERE.
