On Wednesday, July 15, 2015, 11 a.m. at the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum, 295 West Avenue in Norwalk, CT, Ronald Lee Fleming will give a talk entitled, Bellevue, Newport: the Restoration of the 1910 Ogden Codman Jr. House and Gardens.
Real estate heiress Martha Codman built this Federal Revival Style white clapboard house in 1910. Originally called “Berkeley Villa,” it was designed by her cousin Ogden Codman based on principals of simple, classical design he shared with Edith Wharton in their seminal book, The Decoration of Houses. Mr. Fleming purchased Bellevue in 1999, which was in disrepair, but with an enticing social history. The exterior was inspired by drawings Codman did of Federal Style houses in Roxbury, Massachusetts and the rotunda was influenced by James Paine’s staircase at Wardour Castle, Wiltshire, and by James McComb’s City Hall dome in New York City.
Visitors to Bellevue are invited to explore the three and one half acres of walled grounds, containing specimen trees, an orchard and pergola, and a restored art deco fountain. The French garden, with topiary and pollarded trees, was the work of Achille Duchêne, who also worked on the restoration of Versailles.
Ronald Lee Fleming is recognized for planning, public art and urban design projects seeking to merge the skills of architects, historians and artists. He is an alumnus of Pomona College and Harvard University's Graduate School of Design, and is currently an active board member of Scenic America, and Trustee of the Preservation Society for Newport County. The Massachusetts Historical Society nominated Mr. Fleming's early trilogy, The Power of Place, for a Pulitzer Prize in 1982. It includes Place Makers: Creating Public Art That Tells You Where You Are (second edition, 1987), On Common Ground: Caring for Shared Land from Village Green to Urban Park (1982), and Façade Stories: Changing Faces of Main Street and How to Care for Them (1982). His most recent book is The Art of Placemaking: Interpreting Community Through Public Design.
The Museum’s 2015 cultural and educational programs are made possible in part by generous funding from LMMM’s Founding Patrons: The Estate of Mrs. Cynthia Clark Brown; the Museum’s Distinguished Benefactors: Klaff’s, The Xerox Foundation, and The Maurice Goodman Foundation.
The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum is a National Historic Landmark. For additional information on schedules and programs please visit: www.lockwoodmathewsmansion.com, e-mail info@lockwoodmathewsmansion.com, or call 203-838-9799.