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Gibraltar (previously known as the Hugh Rodney Sharp Mansion), located at 2505 Pennsylvania Avenue in Wilmington, Delaware, is a country estate home dating from c. 1844 that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It takes its name from the Rock of Gibraltar, alluding to the high rocky outcrop on which the house was built. It is located just inside Wilmington's city limits and originally stood at the center of a much larger estate which has over time been reduced to the present area of about a city block in size. The house was originally built by John Rodney Brincklé and inherited by his brother's wife and children, before being bought in 1909 by Hugh Rodney Sharp, who was linked to the Du Pont family through marriage and work. Sharp expanded and remodeled the house, as well as commissioning the pioneering female landscape designer Marian Cruger Coffin to lay out the gardens.〔 The estate is now owned by a local preservation trust which acquired it in the 1990s after it was threatened with demolition and redevelopment. The gardens have since been restored and opened to the public. The estate was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1998 in recognition of its importance as a well-preserved example of the Country Place era of art and design.〔 The mansion has not been occupied for many years and its condition has significantly deteriorated, but it is hoped that it will be restored for use as a commercial property with the proceeds going towards the continued preservation of the estate. ==History== The estate was developed around 1844 by John Rodney Brincklé, grandnephew of the first Governor of Delaware, Caesar Rodney. It was located in the western part of Wilmington just within the city limits and was named for its position on a high rocky outcrop overlooking the city, in an allusion to the Rock of Gibraltar. Brincklé was said to have built it in an unsuccessful attempt to woo a woman from Philadelphia and subsequently used it as a retreat and as a base where he could carry out horticultural experiments and entertain friends and relatives. The estate originally extended over an area of about . Around 1848 he invited his brother Samuel with his wife and their eight children to move into the house. Samuel purchased it in May 1862 and carried out planting and landscaping works on the property. It passed to his wife Julia on his death and subsequently to their children.〔 The estate was purchased in 1909 by Hugh Rodney Sharp and his wife, Isabella Mathieu du Pont Sharp, a member of the Du Pont family. In 1915 it was renovated under the direction of Philadelphia architects DeArmond, Ashmead and Bickley.〔 The house's interior decor includes Colonial Revival and Italianate architecture and contains works by Albert Ely Ives and others.〔 Between 1916–23, the pioneering female landscape architect Marian Cruger Coffin laid out the gardens.〔〔 Sharp died in 1968 and the estate was inherited by his son, Hugh Rodney Sharp Jr., who did not share his father's interest in horticulture. By the time he died in 1990 the gardens had not been maintained for many years and were badly overgrown. The estate was put up for sale after his death but was saved from demolition after a campaign by local people and the Preservation Delaware organization.〔 The Delaware Open Space Council bought the development rights to the property and the Sharp family donated the estate to Preservation Delaware.〔 In 1998 the estate was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The listing included works of art, a house, a horticultural facility, secondary structures, and street furniture/objects. It included five contributing buildings, seven contributing structures and 48 contributing objects.〔 The gardens were opened to the public in 1999.〔 Access is free and is permitted daily between dawn and dusk.〔 The mansion is not open to the public and is in a poor condition, having stood empty for over 20 years. After Preservation Delaware acquired the estate, a conversion easement was placed on the property with the intention of refurbishing it as a 31-room hotel. The estate's greenhouses were to be converted into a restaurant. An Exeter, New Hampshire company called Someplace(s) Different which operates historic hotels in the US and Canada signed an agreement to handle the conversion.〔 However, this fell through. A few years later another company, CCS Investors of Yorklyn, Delaware, proposed to convert the mansion into commercial office space. Rent money and profits from the development would be used by Preservation Delaware to finance the building's maintenance and restoration. The proposal was opposed by a number of the estate's neighbors who were concerned about the effect on local traffic. The dispute resulted in a three-year legal battle which eventually reached the Delaware Supreme Court. On July 16, 2009 the court ruled in favor of the developer's request to change the estate's zoning status from residential to commercial.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gibraltar (Wilmington, Delaware)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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