This is a National Historic Landmark, which is a designation substantially higher in the pecking order than listing on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built for Edward Drummond Libbey and Florence Scott Libbey had it built in 1895. For the benefit of my far-ranging readers, that's Libbey as in Libbey Glass. They also donated the land for the Museum of Art, built it, stocked it, expanded it, and endowed the hell out of it, with the request that an admission fee never be charged unless absolutely necessary. Except for an occasional temporary exhibit, the board of directors has had the decency to grant that request.
Ever notice that, sometimes, the fence can be every bit as good as the house?
This is a National Historic Landmark, which is a designation substantially higher in the pecking order than listing on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built for Edward Drummond Libbey and Florence Scott Libbey had it built in 1895. For the benefit of my far-ranging readers, that's Libbey as in Libbey Glass. They also donated the land for the Museum of Art, built it, stocked it, expanded it, and endowed the hell out of it, with the request that an admission fee never be charged unless absolutely necessary. Except for an occasional temporary exhibit, the board of directors has had the decency to grant that request.
Ever notice that, sometimes, the fence can be every bit as good as the house?
2 comments:
In re.: Libbey's museum bequest.
When Libbey died about 1927, he left comfortable fixed sums for his family and secretary. He left the residue of his estate to the museum. At the time, no one (including Libbey) had any idea how much that was, but when probated it amounted to over 30 million -- equivalent to about 100 times that today. In the Great Depression, that bought an awful lot of stuff. The board invested most of it, and the museum lived off the income for decades.
The museum library has the whole story documented in exhaustive detail in several scrapbooks. Don't let them tell you they don't.
It'd be hard for them to deny. There's a temporary exhibit of parts of the Libbeys' personal collection, and some of them are included.
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