Dickinson Estate Historic District
Dickinson Estate Historic District | |
42°53′28″N 72°34′0″W / 42.89111°N 72.56667°W / 42.89111; -72.56667 | |
Area | 32 acres (13 ha) |
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Built | 1900 (1900) |
Architect | Fornachon, Maurice |
Architectural style | Colonial Revival, Greek Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 05001237[1] |
Added to NRHP | November 9, 2005 |
The Dickinson Estate Historic District encompasses the core holding of an early 20th century country estate in rural northern Brattleboro, Vermont. It includes a sophisticated Colonial Revival mansion house, built in 1900, and a variety of agricultural outbuildings dating to the same period. The estate, and in particular its barnyard complex, are well-preserved remnants of this era. The property is also notable for its association with Rudyard Kipling, who owned the estate for several years. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.[1] The district covers 30 acres (12 ha) of what is now the main campus of the World Learning organization, a larger subset of the original Dickinson Estate.
Description and history
The former Dickinson Estate is located in rural northern Brattleboro, near its border with Dummerston, on the west side of Kipling Road. The World Learning campus occupies more than 160 acres (65 ha) of a large farm property that was known in the 19th century as the Bliss Farm. In 1899 the Bliss Farm was purchased by Frederick and Harriet Dickinson; he was a prominent local businessman, she the daughter of a New York City millionaire. The farm became the core of a gentleman's farm country estate that reached 500 acres (200 ha) at its greatest extent. The Dickinsons built a 20-room Colonial Revival mansion house (to a design by Belgian architect Maurice Fornachon), and constructed a number of agricultural outbuildings to support farm operations on the property, demolishing most of the older buildings on the farm in the process. The only older building to survive on the property is an 1860s Greek Revival cottage, in which the Kiplings gave birth to their daughter while construction of nearby Naulakha was underway.[2]
The central portion of the Dickinson estate was purchased in 1937 by Thomas Bibby, who continued to operate the farm. His widow remarried, to Henry Persons, a principal in the Experiment in International Living, now World Learning. That organization bought a subset of the estate (excluding the main complex of farm buildings) in 1962, and gradually expanded its holdings to more than 160 acres (65 ha).[2]
The property is historically significant as having one of the few surviving country estate houses left in Brattleboro, and for its remarkably well-preserved early-20th century farmyard, which was also designed by the architect Fornachon. The elaborate and deliberate arrangement of the buildings in the farm complex is particularly unique in the state.[2]
See also
References
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ a b c "NRHP nomination for Dickinson Estate Historic District". National Park Service. Retrieved November 18, 2015.
External links
- Media related to Dickinson Estate Historic District at Wikimedia Commons
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Historic
Landmarks
- Naulakha
- Rockingham Meetinghouse
- Bellows Falls Downtown Historic District
- Bellows Falls Neighborhood Historic District
- Brattleboro Downtown Historic District
- Canal Street–Clark Street Neighborhood Historic District
- Crows Nest
- Dickinson Estate Historic District
- Follett Stone Arch Bridge Historic District
- George–Pine–Henry Street Historic District
- Grafton Village Historic District
- Homestead–Horton Neighborhood Historic District
- Houghtonville Historic District
- Mechanicsville Historic District
- Middletown Rural Historic District
- Moore and Thompson Paper Mill Complex
- Newfane Village Historic District
- Parker Hill Rural Historic District ‡
- Putney Village Historic District
- Rockingham Village Historic District
- Saxtons River Village Historic District
- Scott Farm Historic District
- Samuel Gilbert Smith Farmstead
- South Londonderry Village Historic District
- South Windham Village Historic District
- Stratton Mountain Lookout Tower
- Townshend State Park
- Vermont Academy Campus Historic District
- West Brattleboro Green Historic District
- West Dover Village Historic District
- West Townshend Village Historic District
- Westminster Terrace Historic District
- Westminster Village Historic District
- Whitingham Village Historic District
- Williams Street Extension Historic District
- Wilmington Village Historic District
- Windham Village Historic District
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