I T was called Wingwood House, and it over from Italy reportedly worked for more was perhaps the largest Colonial-style than a year on the murals and wood carv- residence ever built in Maine. And it ings in the Garden Hall alone. Up in the bed- looked as though the architect had single- room of the mistress of this palace, where a mindedly set out to incorporate every detail veritable Tiffany's worth of jewels glittered in the design that could possibly be called on neck mannequins atop dressing tables, Colonial. Fanlights spread out above doors, the drapes were satin, the antique chande- quoins girded the corners, and a balustrade liers crystal. An electric elevator serviced the edged the four-chimneyed, hipped roof. second and third floors, while down in the Eight white pillars lined a stone portico on basement five hot-air furnaces roared, tak- the landward side, while out on the seaward ing the chill off the Mount Desert Island side, the curve of a bowfront, pillared bal- summer. Fifty-two separate telephone lines cony was echoed in the lines of a spacious ran into the house; an additional twenty- stone terrace. All this - and long wings three lines connected rooms within the extending outward on either side-encom- - house. Wingwood thus required its own tele- passed eighty rooms, thirty-eight of them phone directory, with such listings as the Edward T. Stotesbury just for servants. Chintz Room, Colonial Room, Venetian and Inside, twenty-six hand-carved marble French Room, Normandy and Green Room, fireplaces imported from Europe graced Dumb Waiter- - Third Floor, Linen Closet, Wingwood's walls. Three artisans brought Housekeeper's Sitting Room, Housekeep- 0 DOWN FAST Anna R er's Office, and New Maid's Room. Shortly of Mrs. Eva Stotesbury, featuring a fabulous before its grand debut in August 1927, the bathtub with gold fixtures. "You know, Portland Evening Express reported that sev- they're very economical," she once ex- enteen huge trucks groaning under full loads plained. "You don't have to polish them." of antique furniture had rumbled through town, on their way to the new Bar Harbor mansion. I N the 1920s, of course, if your name was Stotesbury and the value of your stock To dust all those carved legs and inlaid portfolio reached well into the millions, tabletops and to answer all those telephones, you didn't think much about economy. You thirty staff members lived at Wingwood thought about filling all those rooms over- House. One was a full-time electrician; looking Frenchman's Bay with fancy guests another was employed simply to sit in a and sumptuous dinners and lavish enter- room overlooking the driveway and tele- tainments. Some guests came over from phone the butler the instant he saw a visitor their own huge Bar Harbor cottages, such as approaching. There were three kitchens, those that lined Eden Street (now Route 3) one for preparing elegant repasts for formal on either side of Wingwood House. Others banquets, another for making everyday traveled to Maine aboard private railway Eva C. Stotesbury meals, and yet another for feeding the ser- cars and stayed at Wingwood House - vants. And then there were the twenty-eight among them the Mellons from Pittsburgh full baths, among them the private facilities and the Pullmans from Chicago. Invitations Still, just how much Ned Stotesbury really yearned for the simple life remains questionable. In the closets just off that plain bedroom in Philadelphia, well beyond the conservative banker suits and the 100 pairs of shoes, could be found the latest fash- ions in leisure wear: flowing foulard neck- ties, English-cut tweed jackets, precisely creased white-flannel trousers. The dapper little gent had, in fact, once been voted one of the ten best-dressed men in America. Nor was he reticent about his millions. At the prestigious Bar Harbor Club, in August 1929 two months, incidentally, before the stock market crashed - Stotesbury, then eighty, enthusiastically announced that he had that day achieved his life's ambition: to be worth $100 million. What casts even more doubt on his supposed longing for sim- ple things is that twenty-nine years after the death of his first wife, Edward T. Stotesbury, 63, married Eva Roberts Cromwell, 46, who had been widowed three years before. According to Cleveland Amory, she quick- ly became "the greatest of all latter-day resort spenders." Ned and Eva made an interesting cou- ple. It was said that she was always fifteen minutes early for everything, and that he was always fifteen minutes late. He never read a thing - -according to a friend, he didn't pride himself on not reading, he just didn't - whereas she extensively researched whatever type of antique furniture - always expen- sive she was buying at the time. She called her husband "Kickapoo," and said that mar- on black-bordered vellum with "Wingwood ing à la the Stotesburys was also the last fran- rying him was the only successful financial House" in elaborate black engraving would tic gasp of a gilded age. As Amory points transaction that she had ever made in her life. go out to a favored few - say, two hundred out in his 1948 book about America's most He said that she had taught him how to play. or SO - and they would come to mingle exotic watering holes, The Last Resorts, both More specifically, she taught him how to with one another amid the eighteenth- the income tax, authorized by the Sixteenth entertain in the grandest of style. century Queen Anne chairs, the Chinese Amendment in 1913, and World War I had Chippendale gilded mirrors, and the paint- already dealt a fatal blow to many fabulous ings by European masters. They would dine E VA was already well accustomed to fortunes. That blow just took a little longer high society by the time she married on Limoges porcelain - the Stotesburys to reach the Stotesburys and their summer Edward T. Stotesbury. She and her had a 1,200-piece set - and eat with forks, cottage in Maine, Wingwood House. first husband had made it into the most knives, and spoons made of heavy sterling exclusive of New York circles - that of and monogrammed with gold - from E VA Stotesbury's husband, Edward Mrs. William Astor - and later, in another 1,200-piece set. The huge jewels T., once commented to a gardener that Washington, D.C., became part of President that glittered at the throats of Eva Stotesbury he would have been content in Bar Theodore Roosevelt's social set. Eva's and the other fashionably attired ladies of Harbor with a small cottage and beans every popularity was no doubt enhanced by what the day were rivaled only by the stars Saturday night. He had, after all, been social historian Stephen Birmingham refers sparkling down on the dark, still waters of brought up in a strict Quaker family. Even to in his book, The Grand Dames, as the Frenchman's Bay lapping the shore just 600 after the one-time $16.60-a-month clerk extraordinary talent of being able "in a feet from the mansion's east terrace. became known as the richest man at J.P. roomful of hundreds of people, to remem- Cleveland Amory, renowned chronicler Morgan's, the most powerful financial insti- ber the name of every guest and, in most of the rich and famous, liked to say that the tution in America at that time, the bedroom cases, the names of their children." arrival of the Stotesburys on the scene in which he slept in his Philadelphia house Her second marriage only enhanced helped take Bar Harbor yet another long step - itself a palace - was reported to be Eva's social standing. Now she was able not away from its origins - a rustic island almost austere in its simplicity. Presumably only to see and be seen at fabulous parties, championing the simple cottage life - into the financial wizard duplicated that sim- but to throw her own parties along with the "the white-tie era." But the exorbitant spend- plicity in his private Bar Harbor quarters. best of them. She retained a personal fash- 62 DOWN EAST Photographs courtesy Maine Historical Society ion designer, always on hand to create new Philadelphia. That 147-room palace of mar- When these mid-forties photographs outfits for her, as well as three secretaries, ble, gold, bronze, and parquetry was sited were taken, Wingwood House was for whose duties included keeping charge of on a three-hundred acre estate and filled with sale and the Stotesburys' personal voluminous scrapbooks about each of the European artwork over which Philadelphia belongings had been removed, such as Stotesburys' social gatherings, complete Museum of Art director Fiske Kimball posi- the neck mannequins dripping with with seating arrangements, every item of tively drooled. Each of the seven guest Eva's collection of jewels in her food served, and - last but not least-pre- suites was assigned its own distinctive sta- elaborate bedroom (opposite, bottom cisely which dress and which jewels Evahad tionery and each guest had his or her own right). Still, the extravagance amid worn. All of this information was crucial. personal chauffeur. If party conversation which Ned and Eva had spent their How else could she have managed to keep happened to lag amid the crowds mingling summers is readily apparent. These everything straight with her dinners for two in the ballroom or the lavish gardens, Eva lavishly appointed rooms - the hundred and receptions for six hundred? Stotesbury would call on a servant to release entrance corridor with its antique Entertaining of any sort apparently sent a flock of doves or send a bevy of peacocks English paintings (opposite, top), the Mrs. Stotesbury into high gear. When her strutting across the floor. dining room's Queen Anne furnishings Bar Harbor neighbor down the street, Mrs. For little getaways, Ned and Eva (opposite, bottom left), the Garden Atwater Kent, once asked Eva for help with retreated to Florida, where they built Room's ornate woodwork over which a party, she graciously complied by com- what has been called Palm Beach's three Italian artisans had labored for a pletely rearranging the Kents' rambling largest villa, El Mirasol, with its own pri- year (above) - had been featured in three-story summer house, Sonogee. And all vate ZOO amid extensive gardens. Then stylish publications such as Town and the guests for that party were twelve-year- there were the frequent trips to Europe, Country only a decade earlier. olds. to participate in the social season there. "Through the 1920s their spending I F Wingwood House seemed grand, it increased until it was almost with a note paled in contrast to the veritable of hysteria," Stephen Birmingham Versailles that Edward T. Stotesbury writes. "It was as though they had seen had earlier built for his wife outside (Continued on page 99) AUGUST 1998 63 Bar Harbor Folly (Continued from page 63) that they had gone too far but it was now too late to turn back." ONE OF A KIND They didn't turn back. Four years after they completed their fantastic Philadelphia mansion and shortly after finishing their villa in Palm Beach, the Stotesburys turned their sights on Bar Harbor. Long before he became engaged to Eva, High Adventure Ned had spent time on Mount Desert Island and had even bought some property there. on the Coast of Maine Their 1911 engagement was announced by the Bar Harbor Times in a long, chatty col- A landmark collection of classic aircraft, auto- umn. By 1925, Mr. and Mrs. Stotesbury mobiles, motorcycles and engines. We offer were regularly spending the summer on the educational tours, programs and films. Museum island. They bought an estate on Eden Street exhibits include The Harnessing of Power (with known as Fouracres, formerly owned by the life-size replica of the Wright Flier), Oddities of late Alexander J. Cassatt, president of the Flight and the Engine Exhibit. Visit Our Pennsylvania Railroad and brother of artist Restoration Workshop, store, nature trails and Mary Cassatt. picnic area. Seven days a week, 10-5. Two miles south of Rockland on Route 73, minutes from T O this day the question remains as the Owls Head Lighthouse. Adjacent to Knox to whether Eva or Edward was County Airport, w/ daily flights to Boston. the mover and shaker behind the Wingwood House renovations. Clarence Dow, a Bar Harbor nursery- man who carried out a $100,000 gardening project at Wingwood, later said that he had always felt that Mrs. Stotesbury was the rest- less and driving energy behind it all. He described Mr. Stotesbury as "a fine old gen- tleman" who good-naturedly paid the bills. However, Eva's son from her first marriage, James Cromwell, insisted that, "Father was the show-off - not my mother. His May 31 Transportation Model Show theory was: If you've got it, flaunt it." June 14 Ford vs. Chevy Showdown Undoubtedly Eva was the more (w/ live music) involved of the two in overseeing the plans June 27-28 Sentimental Journey - The for Wingwood drawn up by Louis Planes, Autos & Music of the Magaziner, a partner in the Magaziner, World War era (live Swing)* Eberhard & Harris architectural firm in July 12 Fabulous '50s & Sensational '60s Philadelphia. "She would drive around (w/ live Oldies) * Maine, taking and gathering pictures of July 25-26 Antique Truck, Tractor & colonial houses," the architect's son, Henry Commercial Vehicle Meet Jonas Magaziner, later remembered. "For (w/ live Country music) * instance, she sent my father some pictures August 8-9 Transportation Spectacular & Aerobatic Airshow of the Nickels-Sortwell House in Wiscasset, August 22 Antique, Classic & Special- which she thought was 'the loveliest house Interest Auto Auction in Maine.' On one of the pictures a post- Sept. 6 Antique Motorcycle Festival card - she indicated several details with Xs (w/ live Oldies) and wrote on the back: 'Facade for us, espe- Houses & Sept. 20 Tribute to Convertibles cially arches over window.' Sometimes he Barns by (w/ live music) would have to explain to her that even JOhN October 4 Foreign Auto Oktoberfest though a detail might be charming on a small Libby® est. 1971 (live Oompah band) house it could be all wrong for a house October 25 The Great Fall Auction of the magnitude of Wingwood," says with Antique Aircraft Flying Exhibition Magaziner. "It wasn't always easy for him." Call or write for our color brochure and video package No sooner had the blueprints been com- showing design possibilities. ($20) OWLS HEAD pleted for the Bar Harbor residence than TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM major changes were required. Henry Maga- PO Box 258J FREEPORT, MAINE 04032 ziner remembered, "Joseph Duveen came to P.O. Box 277D Owls Head, ME 04854 (207) 865-4169 207-594-4418 www.ohtm.org Mrs. Stotesbury with some fine antique fur- niture belonging to an English nobleman AUGUST 1998 99 who had recently died." There were several roomfuls of furniture, in fact - and to accommodate it, everything at Wingwood had to be scaled up accordingly. Duveen's offerings, after all, were not to be lightly dismissed: he was the most famous art dealer of his day. His father had decorated Westminster Abbey for the coro- nation of Edward VII, and, as social gadfly Lucius Beebe once quipped, it was the younger Duveen's self-appointed goal in life to "bridge the cultural lag between the Old World and America with a profitable torrent of Titians, Vermeers, and Rembrandts"- Mined today where it was discovered in 1820 not to mention Renaissance bronzes, Louis at the country's oldest operating gem site in XV chairs, English silver, and Dresden the mountains of western Maine, Maine tourmaline china - all with considerable gain to him- may be the original United States' gemstone. self. Duveen had earned a cool $2 million Call Tardif's at 1 800-834-3638. decorating the Stotesburys' Philadelphia house. It's not known how much they hand- ed over for Wingwood's many adornments, L.TARDIF JEWELER but interior appointments by Duveen had a Main Street Waterville, Me. cachet exceeding the actual value of the Old Masters. If Eva Stotesbury's exacting standards kept her architect hopping, they did not make life easy for the workmen either. Everett Lymburner, a local contractor who did the electrical work at Wingwood House, later recalled, "She knew more than most decorators. And everything had to be just right. If a fireplace wasn't where she want- ed it, it was moved. Once Mrs. Stotesbury we build solutions ordered an entire room done in gold leaf. When it was finished, she didn't like it. So it was done over." Designing and Landscaping at Wingwood was execut- building timber ed on an equally grand scale. Nationally framed homes, renowned landscaper Beatrix Farrand, also cottages and barns a Mount Desert summer resident, was in since 1975. charge of the general design for the six-acre estate, and nurseryman Clarence Dow Visit us on helped execute the plans. He helped move Route 90 in a hundred enormous pine trees, twenty to Rockport, or thirty feet tall, about the estate. Dow was also contact us for instructed to search the Bar Harbor area for a $5 brochure ten tall elms that Mrs. Stotesbury wanted on or an estimate. the grounds. Moving costs for those ran about $1,500 per tree (upwards of $12,000 apiece today). ROCKPORT POST & BEAM PO Box 353, F OR all the grandeur, for all the work put into getting Wingwood's outer Route 90, and inner landscapes just right, the Rockport, Maine Stotesburys' grand Bar Harbor sojourn 04856 would last only eleven years. As Cleveland (207) 236-8562 Amory has pointed out, in 1922 when 1-800-244-8562 in George Vanderbilt sold his island cottage, it Maine was "the first large piece of Bar Harbor cot- tage property to change hands in fifteen years. In the next three years no less than forty-seven cottage properties changed Photo: Greg Morley hands." By the thirties, some of the big old summer homes - suddenly transformed by 100 DOWN EAST the shaky economy into huge white ele- phants - were already being torn down. For their part, Edward and Eva Stotesbury only increased their breakneck spending. "Imade all this myself," Stotesbury is reported to have said. "FDR is not going to waste it for me. I am." During the last five years of his life, the Stotesburys spent more than $10 mil- lion a year. When Ned died in 1938, Eva was left with an estate trust that provided only one-quarter of what it would have cost to run just their Philadelphia estate, never mind their Palm Beach and Bar Harbor mansions. Eva ended up selling her Philadelphia palace for a song - $167,000 - to Pennsylvania Salt Company for use as a research laboratory. Auctions held to sell off the furnishings were attended mostly by curiosity seekers and brought in a fraction of what the Stotesburys had paid for them. Sunrise, Oil on Canvas, 24" X 30" A magnificent Isfahan carpet that Duveen had sold them for $90,000, for instance, gar- nered only $5,000. Three years later, the fur- nishings of the Stotesburys' Bar Harbor house went on the block. This auction last- THE BARTER FAMILY GALLERY ed four days and included more than 1,200 Sullivan, Maine lots. But here again, Eva Stotesbury took a beating: the profits barely topped $300,000. 2 1/2 miles left after the Hancock-Sullivan bridge. The party was over. Box 102, Sullivan, ME 04664 207-422-3190 As for Wingwood itself, it faced an uncertain future. Had fate been kind, it would have gone up in smoke in the Great Fire of 1947, which demolished more than 70 cottages, out of 222 on the island. But Wingwood survived the blaze and when it finally did sell, its first buyer intended to turn it into an apartment house. The local zon- ing board, however, turned down the appli- cation. Eventually the town bought the estate C CARTER for $10,000 and in late 1953 local resident DESIGN David Peterson paid $5,000 for the privilege GROUP of tearing the place down and selling the scrap metal for salvage. Today the era of the grand cottage and the glittering social life that Bar Harbor once knew seem long ago. Across the street from Committed to the creation of dynamic and inspira- where white-pillared Wingwood House tional living spaces, Carter Design Group finds once stood now stretch the white-painted balconies of an unpretentious motel. Where innovative solutions to the most difficult design the wings of Wingwood once spread out into challenges. We specialize in the integration of servants' quarters and grand salons, a broad blacktopped parking lot now stretches. Since interior and exterior space. 1953, in fact, the site of Wingwood House CONSTRUCTION has been the location of the Nova Scotia It is our belief that good architecture and design LANDSCAPING ferry terminal, where this summer the old contribute greatly to the well-being of people and Bluenose was replaced by a new high-speed RESTORATION catamaran ferry. Anyone who drives up to speak to the highest ideals of a civilized society. design the ferry terminal gets a chance to enjoy the Ted Carter view out over Frenchman's Bay toward management South Gouldsboro that Eva and her installation "Kickapoo" once glimpsed through the win- dows of their second-floor suite. Surely R3 32E COUSINS ROAD, GORHAM, MAINE 04038 TEL: (207) 761-1823 FAX: (207) 929-3827 Mrs. Edward T. Stotesbury would not have E-Mail: carterdesign@mix-net.net approved. AUGUST 1998 101