Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

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The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion is a Second Empire style country house in Norwalk, Connecticut. It was featured in the movies The Stepford Wives and House of Dark Shadows.

The 62-room mansion, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, has been described as "one of the earliest and finest surviving Second Empire style country houses ever built in the United States."^[1] "The Museum's mission is to conserve the building while creating educational programs on the material, artistic and social culture of the Victorian era," according to the museum organization's Web site.^[1]

[edit] Mansion history

The estate, then called "Elm Park," was built by LeGrand Lockwood, who made his fortune in banking and the railroad industry. Construction began in 1864 just west of the Norwalk River in Norwalk and was completed four years later. Designed by European-trained, New York-based architect Detlef Lienau, the mansion "is considered his most significant surviving work," according to the association. Both American and immigrant artisans worked to construct and decorate the house.^[1] Financial reversals in 1869 and Lockwood's death in 1872 resulted in loss of the estate by Lockwood's heirs. In 1874 the family lost the mansion and grounds through foreclosure.^[1]

Charles D. Mathews, a prominent importer originally from Staten Island, New York, and his wife, Rebecca, bought the property in 1876. The Mathews family continued to live in the mansion until 1938.^[1]

In 1941 the estate was sold to the City of Norwalk, which designated it a public park. In the 1950s, the building was threatened with demolition, but local preservationists succeeded in saving it. They formed Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum, Inc. to run the site, which was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1971.^[1]

The Museum has hosted an annual antique show since 1978. In 2006 the show was held the last weekend in October and attracted dealers from Ohio and Pennsylvania as well as Connecticut.^[2]

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f http://www.lockwoodmathewsmansion.org/3.html "History" Web page of the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum Web site, accessed July 27, 2006.
^ "Antiques show will benefit museum" in "Area briefs" feature, The Advocate of Stamford, October 25, 2006, page A18, Stamford edition, "... the 29th annual Lockwood-Mathews Antiques Show ..." Remember, if the 29th was held in 2006, the first would have been held in 1978, counting must be done the way we count centuries such as the "first century" from the years 1-100 AD.