HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVED: Dumbarton Oaks, a mansion in Washington, D.C., that housed the conference resulting in the formation of the United Nations, is the first to be profiled in Morven’s Grand Homes & Gardens Distinguished Speakers Series beginning February 27.

By Anne Levin

Last year’s Grand Homes & Gardens Distinguished Speakers Series at Morven Museum was such a success that it has returned for a second season. This year’s talks, to be held at 6:30 p.m. the evenings of February 27 and March 5, 10, and 19, will take participants from the Rockefeller Gardens in Seal Harbor, Maine and fabled Newport, Rhode Island, to Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C., and Henry Flagler’s Palm Beach, Florida, estate.

“Launched just last year, the series quickly became a favorite with armchair travel to some of the most sumptuous estates in the country,” said Morven’s Executive Director Jill Barry. “Each speaker brings the inside story to our guests with visuals that will make you long to see them in person.”

First on the schedule is “Dumbarton Oaks: Home & Garden of Humanities.” The stately brick mansion, site of the conference where world leaders gathered to form the United Nations in 1944, is now a research institute, library, museum, and garden affiliated with the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of Harvard University. The estate was originally the residence and spectacular garden of Robert Woods Bliss and his wife, Mildred Barnes Bliss, who donated it to Harvard in 1940. Dumbarton Oaks Director Jan M. Ziolkowski will speak on the Blisses’ world-class collection of Byzantine and Pre-Columbian art, and the historic garden, which was designed by Beatrix Jones Farrand, known locally for her years as consulting landscape architect at Princeton University.

Farrand was also involved in the design of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden on Mount Desert Island, Maine. The focus of “Seal Harbor, Maine & Beyond: The Rockefeller Gardens” on March 5, the talk by Casey Banning, author of The Rockefeller Family Gardens: An American Legacy, reveals why Farrand’s design took more than seven years to complete. Banning will also focus on the Eyrie, a 100-room house that was removed in 1962. Banning’s book will be available for purchase following the event.

“Living Newport: Houses, People, Style” is the title of the March 10 talk by Bettie Bearden Pardee, who is the author of two books on entertaining, and the popular Instagram account  “Private Newport,” focused on the mansions and gardens in the Rhode Island seaside town. Pardee’s own home and gardens in Newport are known as examples of gracious living. Her books will be for sale following the talk.

The finale of the series March 19 is “Whitehall: Henry Flagler’s Palm Beach Estate,” with Flagler Museum Executive Director Erin Manning. The home was industrialist Henry and Mary Lily Kenan Flagler’s winter retreat from 1902 until Henry’s death in 1913. The exterior was designed by Carrere and Hastings, known for their work on the New York Public Library and the Fifth Avenue mansion that is now the Frick Collection. The 100,000-square-foot house had 75 rooms, and was described in the New York Herald as “more wonderful than any palace in Europe, grander and more magnificent than any other private dwelling in the world.” Manning, formerly the executive director of the Historical Society of Princeton, will provide an insider’s look at the mansion. Illustrated books will be available after the talk.

Each event will be preceded by 30 minutes of refreshments. The talks are in Morven’s Stockton Education Center. Individual tickets are $18-$25; the series is $50-$75.

“It’s the drabbest part of winter, and this is a way into not only beautiful gardens, but beautiful homes that epitomize their sense of space and place,” Barry said upon launching the series last year. “We are hoping this is a success, and that every winter we can bring another series together.”