Originally called "Berkeley Villa," the Federal Revival Style white clapboard house was built in 1910 by real estate heiress Martha Codman and designed by her cousin Ogden Codman Jr. He drew inspiration for the exterior from his drawings of Federal Style houses in Roxbury, Mass. The house's rotunda was inspired by James McComb's City Hall dome in New York City and James Paine's staircase at Wardour Castle in Wiltshire.
The ground's three and a half acres include specimen trees, a restored art deco fountain, a French garden and an orchard and pergola.
Fleming purchased the house in 1999 and is an alumnus of Pomona College and Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. He is currently an active board member of Scenic America and Trustee of the PReservation Society for Newport County. His early trilogy "The Power of Place" was nominated by the Massachusetts Historical Society for a Pulitzer Prize in 1982.
The lecture is $25 for members and $30 for non-members and the price includes the lecture, a first floor mansion tour and lunch courtesy of Michael Gilmartin's Outdoor Cookers Catering and Event Planning.
To purchase tickets, email info@lockwoodmathewsmansion.com or (203) 838-9799, ext. 4.
The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum is at 295 West Ave. in Norwalk.
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