The Connections Bridgewater-Somerville Edition Apr/May 2025

HOME & DESIGN

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COMMUNITY NEWS... Over 50 Interior and Landscape Designers Come Together for Mansion in May By Barbara Gallo Doors Open to the Mansion in May Designer Showhouse and Gardens at Wildfair on May 1, 2025 E

of spending time among beautifully land scaped outdoor spaces filled with flowering plants, relaxed seating, and dramatic sculp ture. Browsing the boutiques at Wildfair Wildfair and dining in its café enhances the visit while helping a worthwhile cause that sup ports community health care. Chosen by the Women’s Association for Women’s Association for Morristown Medical Center for its sig nature fundraiser, the proceeds of this month-long event will benefit the new Pro ton Therapy Center at Morristown Medical Morristown Medical Center.

xcitement is building for the opening of the 21st Mansion in May Mansion in May at Wildfair in Chester Township, New Jersey. The designer showhouse and gardens will feature the inspirations of 38 of the area’s leading interior designers and 13 promi nent landscape designers. Occurring bi- or triennially since 1974, Mansion in May Mansion in May has been the premier showhouse event for de sign and architecture, featuring the most historic and iconic mansions in New Jer sey. More than 22,000 visitors are expected to tour Wildfair Wildfair throughout the month of May.

Beautifully situated on 55 acres of rolling countryside, Wildfair Wildfair was initially a thriv ing farm and the site of a gristmill, sawmill, and millstone workshop. The estate was transformed in 1934 by Elizabeth and Har ry Bowly Hollins III who enlisted the Phil adelphia architectural firm Willing, Sims & Talbutt to craft their vision of a refined country retreat. In the mid-1990s, signifi cant enhancements designed by architect Hiland Hall Turner and constructed by Eberle Builders, Inc. created the extensive fieldstone additions that make Wildfair Wildfair the sprawling, elegant property it is today. The

nearly 9,500 square foot fieldstone and tile roofed, neo-colonial, country estate house sits at the end of a long, gently curving driveway and features several second-floor balconies, small-pane solid windows, ga bled and eyebrow dormers, as well as French doors and bay windows overlook ing the terraced pool and millpond beyond. Visitors to Wildfair Wildfair will have the opportu nity to tour the mansion individually or on a private guided tour to experience the in terior designers’ unique transformations in their specific spaces. A tour of the gardens provides visitors with the pleasure

Mansion in May 2025 will be open to the public daily from May 1-31 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, general ad mission tickets, and information on group and individual private guided tours, please visit http://www.mansioninmay.org. 2025 will be open to the

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