Restoration - A Work in Progress

Preservation, renovation, and restoration efforts at Sonnenberg Gardens is an ever on-going activity as the estate features many structures, statues, and gardens each in need of specialized care. Over the last ten years, $4 million dollars of improvements have been made. Some improvements, like new roofing or statue cleaning, may go largely unnoticed while other work, like this year's Palm House restoration in our greenhouse complex, is hard to miss.

One of the next items slated for restoration is the "Glorietta" in our Italian Garden. The Glorietta is a Garden Folly which is an eccentric or extravagant structure created as a garden or landscape decoration. The Glorietta is one of our most unique and interesting garden pieces and can be seen below.

William Hornaday in his book Masterpieces of Garden Making, published in 1917, has this to say about the Glorietta:

At the southwestern corner of the garden there rises a light and airy white marble summer house, with a domed canopy of iron grille work. I do not know what to call that feature, precisely; but it was imported from Italy, and it is the particular long-distance architectural feature of this garden. In one sense it is an informality; for it is a conspicuous side effect, balanced by nothing. Its real purpose is to carry a strong impression of artistic value clear down the length of the garden, and into its most remote corner.

Age and weather have been hard on the century-old carved marble and wrought iron components of the Glorietta. It is in need of specialized and expensive conservation care. These detailed images show some of the unique design elements as well as examples of the damage the years have caused. 

Sonnenberg Glorietta

Column Base Detail

Column Capital Detail

Reverse View

Ironwork Dome

While we operate in cooperation with New York State, we are not funded by the State. All operational needs and restoration activities at Sonnenberg are funded through the efforts of our nonprofit organization, Your donation will go far in helping to preserve this and other historic structures at Sonnenberg which are irreplaceable treasures. To make your gift, click the donate button below.

Neptune Gets a Facelift

Due to a conservation grant award from the Greater Hudson Heritage Network, last year we were able to do some work on the Neptune fountain in our Italian Garden. If you are unfamiliar with the fountain, it is the focal point for the our iconic Italian Garden. The sculpture is of Neptune with a sea creature and it is centrally placed on the edge of a large water feature. Neptune is holding a creature between his legs and left hand while his right hand is raised, clutching a club-like object with which he appears to be thrashing the creature between his legs. Seasonally, water spurts from the mouth of the creature into a basin below Neptune’s feet. Historically the basin was surrounded by three carved, oversized sea-shells on the water side but these shells have been removed from the fountain at some time in the past.

The conservation work mostly consisted of removing mineral and biological deposits that had built up on the statue - see the images below for the before and after shots.

A huge thanks goes out to the Greater Hudson Heritage Network for allowing us to help preserve the most prominent and probably recognizable of our statuary collection!

Historic View of the Fountain/Statue:

 Before Treatment:

After Treatment: