This past Saturday (March 6) the historic Tallmadge House was placed up for auction.  The opening bid was $332,500 but among the dozen or so individuals who attended the auction,  no bidder stepped forward to purchase the property.

The staff of the Historical Society was given a unique opportunity to walk through the house two summers ago in July of 2009.   The Winterthur graduate program in Early American Decorative Arts was visiting Litchfield as part of their fall field trip and the real estate office managing the property allowed the staff of the museum to walk the students through this amazing 18th century structure.

The house was built in 1773 for Thomas Sheldon.  It is believed Sheldon hired local builder Giles Kilbourn to construct the home.   In 1782, Benjamin Tallmadge purchased the home, after completing his tour as an officer in the Colonial Army during the Revolutionary War, and brought his family from Long Island to settle in Litchfield.   Tallmadge had been through Litchfield while serving in the Army and was immediately attracted to the community.

Tallmadge improved the home by adding the two story covered porches with oversized columns to the front of the house, it is believed, after a visit to Mt. Vernon to visit his friend George Washington.  Impressed with the columned facade of Washington’s home, Tallmadge retrofited his home to copy the design.

The house today retains its original wide floor boards and paneled walls.  There is a fireplace is every room of the original house, several of them stylishly angled in the corner.    It was considered in Tallmadge’s time and still is today one of the finest homes in Litchfield.

After Tallmadge died in 1835, the house was put up for sale.  An ad in the local paper described the property as “2 stories besides gambrel roof – a large back kitchen on 4 acres plus a large barn, carriage house, cow house and other necessary buildings.”  The property changed hands several times for brief intervals before being purchased by New York City attorney William Curtis Noyes in 1857.  Noyes’ wife was Julia Tallmadge Noyes, granddaughter of Benjamin Tallmadge.  When Noyes died he left the house to his only daughter Emily Noyes Vanderpoel.

Vanderpoel used the home as a summer residence for the duration of her lifetime.  An active member of the Litchfield Historical Society, Vanderpoel cherished her family’s connection with Litchfield and actively worked to document and preserve this legacy.   When she died in 1939, the house again left the family and was bought and sold several times during the 20th century.

The house has been on the market for over two years now.  It has been suggested by some that the Historical Society purchase the property.  While the museum actively seeks to preserve the history of this community, purchasing and rehabilitating an 18th century building is too cost prohibitive for the organization at this time.  It is our sincere wish, however, that an owner be found for the property.

The Historical Society has recently undertaken to create a new five year Strategic Plan for the organization.  This exercise is done every five years and the document produced creates a overarching vision for the organization and guides the Historical Society through future public and educational programming, allocation of financial resources, interactions with the larger community and collections decisions.

The meetings have only begun and it will be several months before the Historical Society has a completed document to send to the Board of Directors for approval.  Recently, while searching through the institutional records I came across another moment in the Historical Society’s own history in which the organization did some internal reflection and determined the future path of the museum.

It was September 1966 and then Board of Trustee President Henry L. Shepard had just presented a self-authored “Philosophy of Our Museum” to the entire Board.   The Historical Society had just been through some big changes.  Five years before the museum had been offered and accepted the gift of the Oliver Wolcott, Jr. house.   At that time, the museum continued to share the Noyes Memorial Building (present day Litchfield History Museum) with the Litchfield Circulating & Wolcott Libraries.  Both organization were overcrowded and unable to expand under the current arrangement.  The Historical Society had been looking for another property in town to purchase but until the Wolcott, Jr. house was offered nothing had worked out.

The Historical Society spent the next three and a half years renovating the house and engaging in serious debates over how to the use the new space.   The organization already managed the Tapping Reeve House and Litchfield Law School buildings at great expense.  Several board members expressed anxiety at maintaining another historic house.  While the institutional records are spotty and not every conversation well recorded, by June of 1964 a deal was struck and the Historical Society turned over the Oliver Wolcott, Jr. house to the Library in exchange for full use and sole ownership of the Noyes Memorial Building.   The deal gave each organization its own space and the much desired room to expand.

Shepard saw this as a pivotal moment for the Historical Society.  As the board discussed how to use the Library’s old rooms in the Noyes Memorial Building, Shepard had a larger vision.   He saw this as a moment for the organization to define itself.    He said in his Philosophy of Our Museum:

We have six immediate and long-run objectives: (1) To interest the general public in coming to an attractive, exciting museum.  (2) To eliminate clutter.  (3) To catalog and classify our collections.  (4) To foster the education of young people.  (5) To prepare a valid presentation of our legitimate needs, in compelling fashion, to the Ford Foundation or some similar grantor of funds.  (6) To operate as a community institution in Litchfield for all of its people.

Objective (6) is probably the most important.

Our Museum should concentrate on Litchfield, to the end that we may acquaint everyone in our township – – not only the boro, but also Bantam, Morris, Warren and Northfield – – with its history, in the various aspects of that word.  The young people, growing up here, as well as their parents, will be given the opportunity to feel the spirit vibrations that underlay the creation and development of the United States of America.  Moreover, the young will be enabled to perceive that ‘the dream’ may be realized here at home.  Much of the current restlessness stems from lack of intellectual nourishment.  I cannot think of a happier outcome of our work than to overhear a boy outside of Crutch & MacDonald’s say to another, ‘Hey, let’s go over to the Museum and see what’s new.’

It is necessary to expand the community philosophy further at this time.  I trust that all who read this memorandum will communicate with me or Committee chairmen to express their ideas and suggestions.  Bear in mind that our aim is to collaborate, not complete, with other organizations and institutions in Litchfield.

For me, as for you, the Litchfield Historical Society is a labor of love.  We possess a jewel, whose rays, through our concerted, intelligently generous efforts, can brighten our superb community. 

Present day Liggett Gallery after the renovations

Under Shepard’s leadership the museum transformed from a 19th century cabinet of curiosities to a contemporary museum.  Overly cluttered galleries were replaced with open, brightly lit rooms containing thematic exhibits.  The museum and archival collections were divided and cared for by separate curators, a specialization of labor that the Society continues to this day.

As Shepard outlined:

At this stage, let us concentrate on open space, mainly that acquired from the Wolcott Library and secondarily what we can free from clutter.

Let us think in terms of white paint for the walls and woodwork.  Our collections will give all the accents that are needed to interest the eye.  Let us eliminate frills and furbelows wherever possible and block off unnecessary or over-decorated windows. . . Let us make our museum an inviting, spacious place. 

Shepard achieved many of these goals and today, the Litchfield Historical Society continues to be an inviting, spacious place.  As our current Strategic Planning progresses, these voices from our past can provide moments for reflection and guidance moving forward.