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Evergreen Museum & Library, a former Italianate mansion with classical revival additions, was built in 1857 by Baltimore's Broadbent family. Purchased in 1878 by John W. Garrett, president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, for his son, T. Harrison Garrett, Evergreen was home to two generations of the Garrett family.

The 48-room mansion, with its soaring portico, elaborate cornices, Tiffany-designed glass canopy, surrounding 26 acres of gardens and meadows, and elaborate detail in all aspects of its interior, is a superb example of architecture of the Gilded Age.

Throughout the 1880s, T. Harrison and his wife, Alice Whitridge Garrett, carried out an ambitious program of renovation and construction on the estate. Their eldest son, John Work Garrett, inherited the house in 1920 and continued with his wife, Alice Warder Garrett, the family tradition of modifying and expanding Evergreen. The Garretts' changes were substantial, dramatic, and dictated as much by fashion as by their enthusiastic pursuit of many interests — including art and rare book collecting, theatre, and travel.

Today the home's opulent spaces are filled with over 50,000 of the Garretts' belongings and provide visitors with insight into the family's role as cultural and philanthropic leaders and patrons of the arts.

On display throughout Evergreen are period rooms filled with post-Impressionist paintings, drawings by Degas and Picasso, collections of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain, Japanese lacquerware, and one of the world's largest private collections of both Tiffany glass and Japanese minor arts.

Evergreen's Rare Book Library designed by Lawrence Hall Fowler, contains over 8,000 volumes including Shakespeare's four folios, a large collection of natural history works by Audubon, Catesby, and Gould, and the signatures of every signer of the Declaration of Independence.

The Garretts' love of the performing arts is evident in the home's elaborately decorated Bakst Theatre, the only existing theater with sets by designer Léon Bakst, the illustrious Russian emigre designer known for his work with Diaghilev and the Ballet Russes.

By 1942, Evergreen and its collections became part of The Johns Hopkins University and the Evergreen House Foundation.

Honoring Mr. Garrett's stipulation upon his death (in 1942) that the home remain open to "lovers of music, art and beautiful things," the Garretts' legacy of philanthropy, scholarship, and patronage of the arts continues today through a year-round calendar of exhibitions, special events, artists' residencies, lectures, and performances, all of which are open to the public.

EVERGREEN MUSEUM & LIBRARY | The Johns Hopkins University | 4545 North Charles Street | Baltimore, MD 21210 | Phone 410-516-0341 | Email evergreenmuseum@jhu.edu
The Johns Hopkins University Museums :: Homewood Museum :: Evergreen Museum & Library
© 2007 The Johns Hopkins University. Baltimore, Maryland. Last updated 02Jul07 by dgips@jhu.edu