The "Rocks"

The "Rocks"

There was an unanticpated consequence of the land conveyance. For over a century, there had lain in a wooded area to the north of Trinity Hall a large number of architectural artifacts that had once been part of an unknown building. With the permission of the Morris County Park Commission, the entire collection, consisting of some three-hundred items, was removed to the parking area nearby. The time was ripe for the solution to

La Grange Terr ace, New York City, 1830

Professor Thomas Gordon Smith, of the School of Architecture of the University of Notre Dame, confirmed that the capitals and columns had once formed part of the façade of La Grange Terrace, a magnificent series of New York City Greek Revival buildings of great historical and architectural significance. They had been partially razed in 1901, with portions removed to Delbarton.  These architectural elements were then incorporated into the west porch of the Kountze mansion and the Italian Garden just then under construction. One mystery solved opened another: what had Luther Kountze planned for the remainder of the artifacts?
 
Professor Smith, it turned out, was the author of an article, “The New Athenians,” featuring LaGrange Terrace. He has since visited Delbarton many times to study the materials. In addition, he sparked the interest of curators of American Art of the Metropolitan Museum in New York who purchased several pieces in 2011 and erected an example of a column and capital in the Museum’s Engelhard Court.