Sonnenberg Gardens and Mansion State Historic Park
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Sonnenberg Gardens and Mansion State Historic Park is a 52-acre state park located at 151 Charlotte Street, Canandaigua, New York, USA, at the north end of Canandaigua Lake, in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York. The house and gardens are open to the public every day, mid-May through mid-October.
The property was once the summer home of Frederick Ferris Thompson, a prominent banker in New York City, and his wife Mary Clark Thompson, whose father, Myron Holley Clark, was at one time Governor of New York State. The Thompson's purchased the Sonnenberg property in 1863 and replaced its original farmhouse with a forty-room Queen Anne style mansion in 1887. Sonnenberg's gardens were designed and built between 1902-1919, and originally consisted of nine gardens in a variety of styles.
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[edit] Gardens
Today most of the gardens have been restored, as follows:
- The Conservatory - A Lord & Burnham conservatory complex, built between 1903 and 1915, and considered one of the most important residential greenhouse complexes in the United States. The complex includes a domed Palm House, with other glass houses featuring orchids, cacti, and tropical plants.
- Japanese Garden - A miniature mountainous Japanese landscape, with torii gate. It is said that its Tea House was modeled upon a very old tea house in Kyoto, since destroyed by fire.
- Sub Rosa Garden - A green and white garden, with white marble statuary set off by green lawn, boxwood, and evergreens. The fountain is Zeus, with Artemis and Apollo.
- Rose Garden - A belvedere with over 4,000 rose bushes. The main beds are red, white, and pink; other beds are more varied in color.
- Italian Garden - Four sunken parterres in a fleur-de-lis pattern, bordered by yews, with about 15,000 annuals in the bedding. Constructed in 1902.
- Blue & White Garden - Blue and white flowers with a Zelkova japonica tree in the center.
- Pansy Garden - Planted with pansies.
- Moonlight Garden - Mostly white flowers, blooming late afternoon, and many fragrant. Includes heliotrope, tuberoses and verbenas.
- Old-Fashioned Garden - A geometric garden, in which a low boxwood hedge forms the quincunx pattern of five circles. Each quarter section is a circle crossed by diagonal walks, and an arbor bisects the fifth circle.
- Rock Garden - Formerly three gardens (the Wild Garden, the Lily Garden, and the Rock Garden), completed in 1916, but now merged to form an informal, wooded garden. Its path winds through a canyon constructed of puddingstone, with natural pockets and crannies used for rock garden and alpine plants. Water includes 500 feet (150 m) of streams, waterfalls, and pools fed by geysers and springs.
- Reflecting Pond - Planted with specimen trees by the Thompson's' guests.
[edit] Mansion
Built between 1885 and 1887, the 40-room Queen Anne style mansion was designed by Francis Allen, a noted Boston architect. Allen also designed and oversaw the remodeling of the mansion approximately 15 years after it was constructed.
The mansion's facade is rusticated graystone with Medina sandstone trim and gables made from timber and stucco. The roof is slate with lead-coated copper.
[edit] Other Attractions
In addition to the gardens and mansion, the property hosts the Finger Lakes Wine Center, where a number of local wines are available for tasting and purchase.
