2 minute read
Mansion in May Returns in 2023 with Three Fields Designer Showhouse and Gardens in Borough of Mendham
As a team of talented interior and landscape designers and their crews work almost non-stop, Mansion in May takes shape as New Jersey’s premiere Designer Showhouse and Gardens. Opening to the public on May 1 and running throughout the month, Three Fields, the 2023 Mansion in May. offers a delightful day in the country wandering through almost ten thousand square feet of exquisite rooms. Visitors can meander through gardens created by some of New Jersey’s top landscape designers, relax over lunch in the café and shop in the boutiques in the adjacent carriage house.
Since 1974, every two (or occasionally three) years, the Women’s Association for Morristown Medical Center presents the Mansion in May Designer Showhouse and Gardens as its signature event in support of Morristown Medical Center. Over the years, the Women’s Association has raised over $12 million from this event alone for the Center as it became New Jersey’s topranked hospital and one of the best in the country.
Three Fields, reached by a narrow country lane reminiscent of European roads but actually in the Borough of Mendham, sits on 36 acres of rolling hills and forest. This is not a strictly formal house but rather a comfortable farmhouse in the French style that conveys elegance as well as warmth. Designed and built in 1929 and 1930 by the prominent architect Greville Rickard, the first residents were Benjamin Mosser and his family, who lived at Three Fields for over 20 years. Mosser was a partner in the Wall Street firm of Clark, Dodge
& Co. The original owners sold the estate to Andrew Fletcher and his family in 1949. Both Andrew and his wife, Dorothy, were active participants in Mendham life. He was a Mendham Borough councilman and then mayor for three years while Dorothy was on the board of St. Barnabas Hospital.
Rickard designed the house to have many unusual features such as tall, steeply pitched tile roofs punctuated by dormers, wood casement windows and French doors that made it impossible to stay inside but beckoned to the verdant gardens, ponds and fields flowing out from the terrace. The home’s façade combines several conjoined structures, as if the house had been added to over time, along with roofs with built-in sags and bumps, all blending together to give the romantic appearance of a centuries-old retreat.
The Women’s Association received many proposals, ultimately selecting 31 interior designers and 17 landscape designers to create individual spaces around different themes. Of the interior designers, many are repeat participants, all with the creativity, vision and inventiveness demanded by this sprawling project. The 17 landscape designers, many of them also repeat participants, have combined functionality with aestheticism to include flowering plants, a water feature, seating and even sculpture.
The Women’s Association for Morristown Medical Center (WAMMC), now over 400- strong, has for 130 years helped the hospital respond to the changing healthcare needs of the community. The Association hosts a number of fundraising events, and has raised more than $30 million to date for the Medical Center. This year, proceeds from Mansion in May will go to support the expansion and modernization of the Institute of Bioskills Training and Innovation. The institute allows healthcare professionals to hone their skills in hightech and other procedures using simulation training.
For more information about WAMMC, visit www. wammc.org.
Mansion in May offers an opportunity to tour the metropolitan area’s preeminent Designer Showhouse and Gardens and more than 20,000 visitors are expected. Tickets are $50, now available online at http:// mansioninmay.org. Private tours may also be scheduled online.