Henry Francis DuPont Winterthur Museum

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Winterthur Museum and Country Estate, is an American estate in Winterthur, near Greenville, Delaware, and the former home of Henry Francis du Pont (1880-1969), a renowned antiques collector and horticulturist. In the early 20th century, H. F. du Pont and his father, Henry Algernon du Pont, designed Winterthur in the spirit of 18th- and 19th-century European country houses.

Winterthur is situated on 979 acres (4 km²), with 60 acres (0.2 km²) of naturalistic garden. There were 2,500 acres (10 km²) when it functioned as a country estate.

A well-known collector of European art and decorative arts, H. F. du Pont reported that it was Electra Havemeyer Webb, later the founder of Shelburne Museum in Vermont, who first interested him in American art through the paintings of Charles Louis Heyde. In 1929 he drew worldwide attention when he purchased a tambour desk, made and labeled by John Seymour, Cabinetmaker in Boston, at Parke-Bernet auction galleries in New York for a then record sum for Americana in excess of $30,000. Subsequently, he became history's most prominent collector of American decorative arts, building on the Winterthur estate to house his collection, conservation laboratories, and administrative offices. Winterthur has been a dominant force in the study of the history and evolution of American decorative arts for over 50 years.

There are 175 period-room displays in the museum and approximately 85,000 objects. The collection spans two centuries of American decorative arts, from 1640 to 1860. The Museum sponsors two esteemed graduate level programs with the University of Delaware in Early American Culture and Art Conservation. The rooms are open to the public yearround through numerous iPod-guided tours as well as lengthy docent-guided tours that provide opportunities for aficianados and experts to view the entire collection.

The Winterthur Library and Research Center includes more than 87,000 volumes and approximately 500,000 manuscripts and images, mostly related to American history, decorative arts, and architecture.

[edit] Winterthur's area

Main museum (period Rooms and offices) 96,582 sq. ft. (8,970 m²)
The Cottage (home of H. F. du Pont after opening of the museum) 21,345 sq. ft. (1,980 m²)
The Galleries 35,000 sq. ft. (3,300 m²), 22,000 sq. ft. (2,000 m²) display area
Research Building 68,456 sq. ft. (6,340 m²)
Visitor Center 18,755 sq. ft. (1,742 m²)