Wheatleigh

Wheatleigh
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Wheatleigh
42°20′22.1″N 73°17′49.4″W / 42.339472°N 73.297056°W / 42.339472; -73.297056
Area	22 acres (8.9 ha)
Built	1893; 131 years ago (1893)
Architect	Peabody and Stearns
Architectural style	Italian Villa
NRHP reference No.	82004956[1]
Added to NRHP	April 6, 1982

Wheatleigh is a historic country estate on West Hawthorne Road in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, United States. Built in 1893 to a design by Peabody and Stearns, it is one of the few surviving great Berkshire Cottages of the late 19th century, with grounds landscaped by Frederick Law Olmsted. Its estate now reduced to 22 acres (8.9 ha), Wheatleigh was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.^[1] It is now operated as a hotel.^[2]

Wheatleigh is located in far northeastern Stockbridge, just south of the Tanglewood facility of the Boston Symphony Orchestra on the east side of West Hawthorne Road. The estate is located atop a knoll from which there are commanding views of Stockbridge Bowl to the west. The remnant portion of the estate includes only the main house and water tower of the formerly 250-acre (100 ha) property, which also included greenhouses, a large garage with apartments above, an icehouse, barn, and three gatehouses. The house is a large 2+1⁄2-story masonry building, with Mediterranean Revival styling. It is organized in a U shape, with a central main block, a bedroom wing to the north, and a loggia and "summer house" to the south. It is built out of buff brick with terra cotta trim. The water tower is 100 feet (30 m) in height, built out brick in three octagonal stages, and was one of the tallest structures in Berkshire County when it was completed.^[3]

Henry H. Cook was a New York-based businessman who made his fortune in the railroad and banking businesses. He purchased the undeveloped estate land in 1892, and oversaw construction and landscaping of the property. He named it Wheatleigh, in homage to his family's ancestral home, Wheatley, Oxfordshire. The house, designed by the Boston architectural firm of Peabody and Stearns, received notice in architectural publications, and was described by Charles McKim as one of the best examples of modern Italian Villa architecture.^[3]

The property passed to Cook's daughter, Gloria de Heredia, who opened the formal gardens on the grounds for vespers church services in the summer, and was a financial backer behind the establishment of Tanglewood. The estate was sold out of the Cook family in 1946, and the 22-acre (8.9 ha) house grounds were subdivided off soon afterward. The property was owned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra between 1949 and 1957. Since 1976 it has served as a hotel.^[3]

The property was acquired in 1983 by L. Linfield and Susan Simon under the holding name of Su Lin Inc.^[4] Operations as a hotel were discontinued in the Spring of 2024 and the property listed for sale on 22-acres for $15 million.^[5]

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Berkshire County, Massachusetts

• Wheatleigh Official website

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Peabody & Stearns

Buildings

Colorado Cutler Hall (1877–1880) Glen Eyrie† (1881–1882) Antlers Hotel (1883) Connecticut John Rogers Studio (1878) Georgia Dungeness† (1896) Plum Orchard (1898) Maine Union Church of Northeast Harbor (1887) Drexel Estate (1903) Bangor High School (1912) Bangor Public Library (1912) Massachusetts Boylston Hall† (1870) Bussey Institute (1870–1871) Matthews Hall (1871) Smith Academy (1872) Cathedral Church of St. Paul† (1873) J. Murray Forbes House† (1873) Frances M. McKay House (1875) Hotel Alexandra (1875) R. H. White Department Store (1877) Bromfield School (1878) Smith College Gymnasium (1879) Dupee Estate (1880) Shepherd Brooks Estate (1880) Saint Paul's Church† (1880) Union Club of Boston† (1880s) Saint Mary of the Assumption Church and Rectory (1880–1886) John Payson Williston Observatory (1881) Second Harrison Gray Otis House† (1882) Henry Bradlee Jr. House (1882) First Congregational Church Parsonage and Carriage House (1883) Kragsyde (1883–1885) Bayley House (1884) Joseph Davis House (1884) Wigglesworth Building† (1884) Groton School (1884–1902) Elm Court (1885) Divinity Hall† (1886) Saint Paul's Rectory (1886) King's Chapel† (1886–1922) Divinity Library (1887) First Parish Church (1888) Fiske Building (1888) Hasty Pudding Club (1888) Rev. William Lawrence House† (1888) Exchange Building (1889–1891) Wheatleigh (1893) Russia Wharf Building (1897) Christ Episcopal Church and Parish House (1897–1902) Town Stable† (1898) Worcester City Hall (1898) Trinity Episcopal Church† (1898–1899) Newell Boathouse (1900) Chickering Hall (1901) Dudley Station (1901) Middlesex School (1901–1917) Soldiers' Memorial Library (1901) Dorchester Heights Monument (1902) Cotting School (1903) Norfolk Couunty Registry of Deeds (1905) Springfield Fire & Marine Insurance Co. (1905) Whitinsville High School (1905–1907) Union Trust Company Building (1907) Weld Boathouse (1907) Statue of George Frisbie Hoar (1907–1908) Egleston Substation (1909) Lechmere Viaduct (1910) Roslindale Substation (1911) Custom House Tower (1911–1915) George Thorndike Angell Memorial (1912) St. James Theatre (1912) Cambridge Memorial Flagstaff (1913) Mary E. Wells School (1916–1917) Minnesota James J. Hill House (1887–1891) Duluth Union Depot (1890–1892) Missouri St. Louis School of Fine Arts (1879) Unitarian Church of the Messiah (1880) Dr. George Ashe Bronson House (1885) Security Building (1890–1892) New Hampshire New Hampshire State House† (1910) New Jersey Lawrenceville School (1884–1895) Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal (1889) New York Union League Clubhouse (1880) Pennsylvania Harvey Childs House (1896) Joseph Horne Department Store (1898–1900) East Liberty Market (1900) Rhode Island The Breakers (1878) Vinland Estate (1882–1883) Rough Point (1887–1892) Rockhurst (1891) Fairholme† (1896) Providence Journal Building (1906) Vermont Daniel Webster Robinson House (1885–1886) Washington, D.C. Volta Bureau (1893) West Virginia Pinecrest (1892) Wisconsin First Unitarian Society Church (1885) Key: † Denotes addition, alteration, or remodel

Architects

Robert Swain Peabody John Goddard Stearns Jr. George A. Fuller Pierce P. Furber John Scudder Adkins Francis Richmond Allen Robert Day Andrews Charles L. Bevins Clarence H. Blackall Warren R. Briggs Henry Budden John Hutchins Cady Henry Ives Cobb Charles Collens Charles Sumner Frost Edward T. P. Graham Charles R. Greco S. Wesley Haynes Burnham Hoyt Charles Wilson Killam Westray Ladd Ellis F. Lawrence Ion Lewis Louis Christian Mullgardt Orlando Whitney Norcross Frederick Lincoln Savage A. C. Schweinfurth Julius A. Schweinfurth Timothy Walsh Joseph Morrill Wells Edmund M. Wheelwright Edmund Russell Willson Arthur H. Vinal

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