Carpets & Gardens Lecture and Tour 2024

Former PBS’s Antiques Road Show guest appraiser Peter Pap will delve into the history of rugs including the unique characteristics of woven into these works of art by villagers and nomads from major weaving countries. Pap has been dealing in distinctive rugs for more than 45 years and is recognized nationally and internationally by collectors and designers as one of the country’s foremost experts on antique rugs, carpets, and tribal weavings. He has been featured in numerous publications including The New York Times, Elle Décor, GQ, House Beautiful, and the Wall Street Journal. The talk will be held at the 1883 Tudor style manse designed for Henry Lee Higginson, founder of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, in Manchester-by-the-Sea. The design and restoration of the house interiors and garden is being completed by today’s owner/Architectural Designer, Paul Stremple. 

The lecture will be followed by a wine reception in the home’s glorious gardens designed in the 1930s by renowned landscape architect Fletcher Steele, who also reimagined the gardens at Naumkeag in Stockbridge. The Manchester-by-the-Sea garden, dubbed Highgarden/Hyghe Contente, features Steele’s signature waterfall and reflecting pool carved from existing bedrock. Original plantings such as dwarf Japanese maple, Chinese juniper, hydrangea, and lilac continue to thrive today. A zinc statue of Poseidon introduced by Steele is also found on the lawn. Today’s owner designer Paul Stremple will share the manor house and gardens history and evolution with guests and answer any questions about this historical verdant masterpiece.

Tickets:

$40 for ICAA Members

$50 for General Public