Stan Hywett Hall and Gardens

Last year I wrote a post about Stan Hywett Hall in Akron, Ohio.  My friend Alejandro and I visited this magnificent mansion when he was up here last summer.  I paid another visit to Stan Hywett last week with a couple of friends. 

Stan Hywett (which is Old English for stone quarry) is the largest house in the state of Ohio, and is the sixth largest historic home open to the public in the United States.  It was the residence of F. A. Sieberling, the co-founder of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, and his wife and six children.  Construction was begun in 1912 and completed in 1915.  After Sieberling's death in 1955, the family donated the mansion to a non-profit organization.

The house is built in Tudor Revival Style.

The mansion has 65 rooms with a total area of 64,500 square feet.


The Music Room is where parties and important family events took place.  There is an organ with 2,433 pipes which can be played manually or with music rolls.

The Library features carved black walnut paneling and hand-painted canvas ceiling panels.

The Great Hall, which is three stories high, was a gathering place for family and friends.

The Dining Room was the setting for formal dinner parties.

Informal family meals, however, were served in the Breakfast Room.

The kitchen was state-of-the-art for its era.

The Seiberlings believed in an active lifestyle, and in the basement there is a gymnasium and an indoor swimming pool.

 

 

 

 

 

The Tower Grand Staircase leads up to the second floor.

 



The upstairs contains eighteen bedrooms.

The Master Bedroom featurres antique wood paneling which was bought from a 17th century English manor house that was going to be demolished.

The Colonial Bedroom is one of several guest bedrooms for the Seiberlings' frequent visitors.

After touring the mansion, we went outside to see the gardens.

The seventy acres of grounds seem very extensive, but originally the estate had more than 3,000 acres.


The Japanese Garden was restored to its original 1916 design.

The English Garden was designed in 1928 by a renowned female landscape designer by the name of  Ellen Biddle Shipman.

The Great Garden covers three acres, and includes a rose garden with heirloom roses.

I recommend Stan Hywett as one of the outstanding attractions in Ohio.  I might return for yet another visit in December.  I have heard that the rooms of the mansion are beautifully decorated for Christmas.