The estate was established in 1793 by
Boston merchant
Theodore Lyman I on of grounds, and was the Lyman family's summer residence for over 150 years. It consisted originally of the mansion and its lawns, gardens, greenhouses, woodlands, a deer park, and a working farm. Today the grounds contain a number of specimen trees, a 600-foot (180 m) brick wall along which peach and pear trees grow, and late 19th century
rhododendrons and
azaleas introduced by the Lyman family. The
Federal style mansion, with 24 rooms, was designed by Salem architect
Samuel McIntire and completed in 1798. Its grand ballroom, with high ceiling, decorative frieze, large windows, and marble fireplace, was used for formal parties. A smaller oval room was used for family gatherings. McIntire's design was substantially altered during an expansion of the building in 1882 to designs by Richardson, Hartwell and Driver. The estate's first
greenhouse was constructed before 1800 and is thought to be the oldest in the United States. The Grape House, built in 1804 to raise exotic fruits such as
oranges,
pineapples, and
bananas, today houses extensive
grape vines, grown from
cuttings taken in 1870 from
Hampton Court in
England. The Camellia House was built around 1820 for cultivation of
camellias, introduced to America via Europe in 1797 from coastal
China,
Japan, and
Korea. Many of the Lyman camellias are more than 100 years old. The greenhouses are open to the public. In the 1960s, the Lyman family, after losing money to a declining textile industry, chose to sell portions of the estate. On October 4, 1962, the property was going to be sold to housing developers, but was instead sold to
Bentley University for $365,000. It makes up most of the land that Bentley sits upon. The estate was designated a
National Historic Landmark in 1970 for its architecture and for its landscape design, which is remarkably rare for having retained much of its original 18th-century character. The estate was one of the filming locations for the 2019
Greta Gerwig film adaptation of
Louisa May Alcott's
Little Women and the 1979
film adaptation of
Henry James's novel
The Europeans by
Merchant Ivory Productions. ==See also==