Wistariahurst Museum
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Gardens

Restoration Plans

Every Tuesday Morning from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.- Join theWistariahurst Gardeners
No experience necessary! Work gloves and tools will be provided. Restoration plans of the Wistariahurst Gardens have begun. The gardens and landscape tell an important part of the historical and cultural story at Wistariahurst. The restoration project will not only improve the grounds but also give volunteers the opportunity to work with Master Gardeners to learn more about their own garden projects. The Holyoke Wistariahurst Gardeners primary goal is education and enjoyment of gardening. Free!

Holyoke's Wistariahurst Gardeners have a 7 year plan to restore the Wistariahurst Gardens and Grounds. The project will not only improve the grounds but give volunteers the opportunity to work with Master Gardeners to learn more about their own garden projects. The Holyoke Wistariahurst Gardeners primary goal is education and enjoyment of gardening and includes many veteran and Master Gardeners.

The Garden Conservancy, of Cold Spring, New York has endorsed the garden restoration project and recommended the formation of a Garden Advisory Committee to oversee the garden restoration. The Garden Advisory Committee has been appointed and includes regional landscape historians, architects and designers including: Marion Pressley, of Pressley Associates whose firm developed the Wistariahurst Cultural Landscape Report, Gordon Alexander, Gordon Clark, Ida Hay, Nancy Howard, John Hurley, Mary Hart Parker, Olivia Mausel, Duncan McQueen, and Sheila Wertheimer. These notables have been involved in garden and restoration projects with: Arnold Arboretum, Herbert Arboretum, Naumkeag, The Mount, Depot Square, Florence Griswold Museum, and Market Place Square and The Emerald Necklace Parks in Boston and the Western Massachusetts Gardeners Association to name a few. The Advisory Committee will be working closely with the Holyoke Wistariahurst Gardeners in their efforts.

The goal of the Holyoke Wistariahurst Gardeners is education through garden restoration. To support this worthwhile project, please see sponsorship information. To volunteer, attend a work party or meeting. For more information please call 413-322-5660.


John Hurley teaches a group of students about the restoration of the gardens at Wistariahurst.

Brief Garden History

As the name suggests, Wistariahurst and its landscape are closely intertwined. Wistariahurst was formerly home to two generations of the Skinner family (1874-1959). After moving to Holyoke in 1874, silk manufacturer William Skinner and his wife Sarah maintained the family home, they called Wistariahurst, as a fashionable Victorian Second Empire residence. The grounds were considered a handsome park and "one of the show places of Holyoke" and were planted with flower and vegetable gardens, a variety of trees including maple, peach pear and apple and the notable wisteria vines that covered the entire house.

Following the death of her parents, Belle Skinner hired a succession of designers and architects that transformed the house and grounds updating Wistariahurst into a grand Beaux-Arts residence. Out of fashion Victorian elements were removed and replaced with stylish and elegant classical forms. Belle's renovation was all encompassing and included extensive work to the grounds as well as the interiors. In 1909 she hired florists Wadley and Smythe of New York City to plan a formal perennial garden. The detailed plan included the name and location of each planting. In 1914, Landscape Architect Herbert J. Kellaway of Boston was commissioned to design a rose garden over the site of the perennial garden. By 1916, a Japanese Tea House that Miss Skinner purchased from a New York dealer was assembled at the end of the rose garden and surrounded by an Asian influenced garden. Miss Skinner also refined other sections of the garden to include a fountain, a koi pool and statuary. A 1927 addition gave the home a formal entrance with Porte Cochere and driveway paved with shale fossil stones dating to the Jurassic age taken from a quarry in Holyoke. The gardens and landscape tell an important part of the historical and cultural story at Wistariahurst. Self guided garden tours are currently utilized however; the bones of the gardens, walkways, benches, statuary and now dry water structures offer only a hint of the garden's former elegance

Wistariahurst is now a National Historic Landmark owned and operated by the City of Holyoke with support from the Wistariahurst Museum Association. The twenty six room mansion features parquet floors, vaulted ceilings, elaborate woodwork and two marble lions that guard the entrance. The museum offers a lively schedule of indoor concerts, exhibits, house tours, and workshops. Please call the museum for more information 413-322-5660.