One of the most popular attractions in the city of Baltimore was built by a man who grew up in New York City. Harvey Smith Ladew grew up in luxury. His father had started a business making leather belts for use in factories, and by the time Ladew was a young boy, the family business was profiting in the millions. Ladew became a self-proclaimed man of leisure, stating that he would tour the world and have fun during his younger years, and then go to work when he turned fifty years old. He wanted to reverse the the way most people lived their life, of work in the younger years, then play. Ladew wanted to enjoy life first.
He traveled extensively to Europe, where upon the onset of WWI he headed back home to New York. He spent spent the time following the war as liaison officer for the US Army. He left the family business soon after and dedicated his life to fox hunting. This is what he was doing when he came upon the house that is now the Harvey Smith Ladew Topiary Gardens. He found the house in the middle of Pleasant Valley just outside of the city of Baltimore. Plumbing and electricity were not included, and the house was in a shambles.
The year was 1929, and Ladew was starting his life over at the age of 43. And although he was used to staying in castles, living in mansions on Long Island surrounded by gardens and greenhouses, Ladew was intent on staying in Maryland to pursue fox hunting, and so the run down house with one wilted and dying lilac bush became his home. He began redoing the house immediately and did so for the next forty seven years, the rest of his life. The garden that now grows there makes up 200 acres of Ladew’s dedication.
Ladew was the designer of all of the renovations, but James O’Connor his dear friend and architect, is the one who saw the designs through to fruition. The house is open to the public, and is just as Ladew left it. There are many paintings, statues, carvings and priceless pieces of furniture in the house, but what the site is known for are indeed the gardens.
There are more than thirty different sections to the garden, and many are with a touch of Ladew’s sense of humor, such as a sculpture of Adam and Eve located in the apple tree orchard. Topiary statues surround the grounds, there is a cafe, and guided tours. Each December the celebration, “Christmas at an English Country House” draws many to the gardens. This is a must see site, a New Yorker who left his legacy in Baltimore, in the form of flowers, trees, gardens, art and culture.
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