Read/Eat/Chat
Read the book selection, bring a lunch and discuss at our art-themed book club
May 16, 2019 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm Griswold House
Dearest of Geniuses: A Life of Theodate Pope Riddle
Biography, Published 2003, 296p. by Sandra Katz
This book is the first definitive biography of one of America’s first successful female architects. Theodate was the only child of a Cleveland millionaire whose hobby was collecting Impressionist paintings. Her first architectural project, a mansion she designed to house her father’s magnificent collection, is now the Hill-Stead Museum, in Farmington, CT.
In addition to designing schools and private homes in CT and NY, Theodate designed and supervised the reconstruction of President Theodore Roosevelt’s Birthplace in NYC. Theodate’s masterpiece is the unusual medieval campus of CT’s Avon Old Farms School, where she served as founder and pioneered a progressive curriculum far ahead of its time.
**Our Book Club will be visiting the Hill-Stead Museum and Avon Old Farms School sometime in June. Details will be forthcoming!
This event is made possible by your support of the Annual Fund.
This month's book selection has inspired a Museum Art Excursion to the Hill-Stead Museum.