The History of Gibraltar
The story begins with a man desperately wanting a woman (as most stories begin). John Rodney Brinckle was a wealthy cotton merchant in Philadelphia who owned a store front in Wilmington. He purchased a 100 acre tract of land and in 1844 built a home to win the hand of a woman in Philadelphia. She refused his proposal and he was forced to live, a bachelor, in the home which he named Gibraltar because of the high prominent rocky outcropping on which it was built. In 1848 he invited his brother Reverend Samuel Crawford Brinckle, his wife Julia, and their eight children to live with him at Gibraltar. Samuel would later become the first rector of Christ Church, the DuPont family church. Within a few years John sold the house to Samuel and moved on. A member of the Brinckle family lived at Gibraltar until the house and 6.11 acres were sold to H. Rodney Sharp and his new bride Isabella duPont Sharp. They had married in June 1908 and purchased Gibraltar in 1909 thinking it the perfect place to raise their new family. It wasn't long after they moved in they decided to do some "remodeling". Mr. Sharp always referred to the additions to the mansion as restorations but they were clearly additions. The first addition went west in 1915 to add servant's quarters, a larger kitchen, and an extention to the dining room. (The east addition of a library/family room and solarium took place in 1927). The following year, 1916, Mr. Sharp contracted Marian Cruger Coffin to design a landscape for their new American Country Place.
Marian Coffin was a true pioneer in American landscape architecture. She was one of the first formally trained female landscape architects in the United States. Graduating from MIT in 1904 and opening her own business in New York shortly after graduation proved to be the best decision she could have made. Her connection to the duPont family had been cultivated for many years. This lead to several commission in the area: Winterthur, St. Amour, Mt. Cuba, Christ Church,& the University of Delaware. Gibraltar is her only existing, completely intact, residential design.
On her initial visit to Gibraltar the topography had to have been discussed as an asset as well as a challenge. On this rolling promontory came a series of terraced "garden rooms" connected by a magnificent curving marble staircase. The upper terrace is situated 33' above the formal flower garden giving a spectacular view of the garden and the city of Wilmington. (It would have provided a beautiful view of the Delaware River before the city grew up.) Descending the staircase you arrive on the Evergreen Terrace, a green space that used to provide an outdoor lunch/tea space for the Sharp's. Further down is the Pool Terrace. The Pool is now a reflecting pool only 2 feet deep but was once a grand swimming pool with a pool house and marble patio. At the foot of these terraces the Flower Garden can be found; the flower garden is designed in a wheel of color. The restoration plans have changed some of the plants that made up this color scheme in 1916. Interestingly the plant list that is included in Marian's design is remarkably similar to a plant list published by Gertrude Jeykell years prior. The garden is filled with beautiful sculpture, 37 in total, that the Sharp's collected on trips abroad and from local dealers. Most of the sculptures are limestone and a few are lead. Marian Coffin was open to letting the Sharp's chose the sculpture they liked with the exceptions being in the allee. The Taxodium or bald cypress allee was added in 1921 and a teahouse by 1923. Four distinct sculptures grace the allee; the four seasons are almost life-like in size and integral to the design of the space. If you visit Gibraltar you will likely notice the poor structure of the bald cypress starting at about 15-20'. Multiple leaders and poor branching are a result of the trees having been topped and pollarded at 15' for many years followed by a period of unmanaged chaos. This seemingly harsh treatment of topping and shaping was all part of a plan to create layers in the allee to give it scale. It was planned perfectly, even down to the ivy that was to be kept tightly clipped on a aggregate concrete edge to give the appearance of a low hedge. Ah! the joy of 17 full time gardeners!! Gibraltar became a place for family, fun, and parties. The Sharp's lived at Gibraltar until 1991 when H. Rodney Sharp Jr. died. It was at that point that Gibraltar was abandoned.
Sadly, the old Brandywine blue granite mansion began to leak, the shutters to fall, and the weeds to grow. When one thinks about gardens and gardeners and how we plant and cultivate, really all we are doing is fighting with nature. That became all too clear in the seven years that followed Rodney Sharp, Jr's. death; nature was definitely winning. In 1997 Gibraltar was given a new lease on life when Preservation Delaware and the community saved it from being demolished and launched a campaign to restore the gardens to the glory days of the 1920's. The gardens opened officially to the public in 2000 and have been open as a free space ever since. The mansion still stands overlooking the garden and even in it's state of disrepair seems more imposing than ever.
So...Come and visit. You can tour the gardens in as little as 10 minutes or you can stop to admire all the niches, the sculpture, the commanding vistas, the shaded pathways, the great lawn, the notable trees and eventually spend the whole day. It is a place that captivates you quickly. Come experience Gibraltar for yourself.
posted by Gardener @ 9:35 PM
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