The Eustis Estate Museum, owned and operated by Historic New England (HNE), is in Milton, Massachusetts – roughly 15 miles south of downtown Boston. To see more of Max’s contributions to the blog, click here. This mobile guide review comes from Max Metz, who is in his second year in the Masters of Museum Education program and is t he Manager and Anne Larner Educator at the Durant-Kenrick House and Grounds of Historic Newton. See a sneak peak of these design elements in the museum in progress below.Mobile Guide Review- Historic New England’s Eustis Estate
Eustis estate museum and study center windows#
This is why visitors are allowed to sit on the sofas-the furniture is authentic to the time period and style of the house, but isn’t necessarily historically significant.īefore the furniture can be moved in, conservation experts will finish restoring the original (and richly dark) paint colors in several rooms, and preserving intricate woodwork and tile. The home’s woodwork, fireplaces, and stained glass windows are major highlights in its interior design. Instead, the organization identified historically accurate pieces from antique vendors and refurbished them. But when Historic New England purchased the Eustis Estate, most of the original furniture was not included in the sale.
Most museums aren’t able to adopt this experimental layout because of their fragile and historically significant contents. There will also be designated spaces for rotating exhibitions, as well as a resource room for studying and researching. Tours will be orchestrated with wall-mounted iPads and kiosks throughout the museum, which will highlight the property’s architecture, design, family history, and landscape. While guests will still have the option to take a guided tour, the primary visitor experience will be a self-guided tour. “We wanted to change the way we present historic sites,” explains Gittleman. This new approach makes the Eustis Estate the first house museum of its kind in the region. “Visitors will be able to see the spaces as they were experienced by the Eustis family, and that’s new for us,” says Gittleman, adding that the setup is experimental for Historic New England. Visitors can walk into certain rooms, plunk down on a sofa, and learn about the house at their own speed. “You can luxuriate to a certain degree in these spaces,” says Peter Gittleman, the team leader for visitor experience at the Eustis Estate.
Eustis estate museum and study center free#
Shoe covers won’t be necessary, and docents won’t gently chide you with a “Please don’t touch that,” if you overstep your boundaries. Instead, you’ll have free roam of the mansion, with the ability to not just see, but touch and feel what’s in front of you. Unlike many of the house museums across the region, you won’t have to slowly make your way through the manor on a guided tour.
The Eustis family moved out of the house in 2014, then Historic New England got started on the necessary restoration work to transform the place into a museum. Come May, the newest addition to the nonprofit’s impressive roster of 37 house museums will open its doors. The property had been in the Eustis family for four generations before it was sold to preservation nonprofit Historic New England for almost $7.1 million in 2012. The late Victorian mansion was dreamed up by esteemed architect William Ralph Emerson, and this spring, it will become the only Emerson-designed building open to the public.Ĭalled the Eustis Estate, the grand 18,600-square-foot house in Milton is surrounded by 80 acres of land abutting the Blue Hills Reservation. The stone mansion pictured above will soon be yours to explore.īuilt in 1878 for two well-to-do newlyweds-mining engineer William Ellery Channing and heiress Edith Hemenway Eustis-the not-so-humble “starter home” is a rare survivor of the Aesthetic Movement, which supported the idea of creating something beautiful instead of making art with a deeper meaning.
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