Read House & Gardens
A grand 1804 New Castle house and its later formal gardens tell different chapters of design, domestic work, and preservation.
Artwork inspired by Ethel Pennewill Brown Leach
Built for George Read II between 1797 and 1804, the house is a Federal-style statement on The Strand. Its 22 rooms carry more than the story of the family that could afford them. Ask the guide how household labor made the interiors work, and how later occupants changed the rooms rather than treating the furnishings as a perfectly fixed 1804 scene.
The gardens arrived later and changed again under Philip and Lydia Laird’s twentieth-century Colonial Revival vision. That layered chronology makes the parterre as interesting as the brick facade. A restoration currently limits some rear-garden access, while the Strand-side parterre is open. The house tour and freely accessible grounds are separate experiences; choose according to your time and mobility.
- House completed
- 1804
- Rooms
- 22
- Garden layers
- 1840s and Colonial Revival
Quick guide
- Tour the house
- Hourly guides connect design, household labor, and later occupants.
- Compare the garden
- The landscape belongs to later eras than the original mansion.
Know before you go
- Read the staircase
- Architecture choreographed public and private movement.
- Ask who worked
- The domestic staff belonged to the story of these rooms.
- Stand at the parterre
- Its geometry reflects later owners’ design ambitions.
- Check the boundary
- Restoration may limit the rear garden despite free grounds access.
Good to know
The house is not fully step-free: contact staff before booking if you cannot use the basement ticket stairs or upper-floor staircase. The rear garden is partially closed during restoration.
Notice these
- Federal brick facade
- Interpreted domestic interiors
- Strand-side parterre