Salem, Ohio, February 2, 1867 – Farmington, Connecticut, August 30, 1946



Hill-Stead’s story begins with founder Theodate Pope Riddle, an only child of privilege, who yearned for her own dairy farm in an era when women of her class were expected to focus on family and social prominence. Ever independent, she left her hometown
of Cleveland, Ohio, and continued her education in the 1880s at Miss Porter’s School in Farmington, Connecticut. From an early age, she envisaged a future of caring for orphaned children, engaging with ideas, proselytizing tasteful refinements and involving herself with community. Self-taught as an architect, Theodate cut her professional teeth in the 1890s with the restoration of an 18th-century saltbox house and the design of Hill-Stead. Over the years she pursued various commissions and projects, with Avon Old Farms School (www.avonoldfarms.com) consuming her considerable talent and resources for two decades. For additional examples of Theodate's work, see the Westover School web site: www.westoverschool.org/home/alumnae/archives/heritage.

Birth of an architect
While attending Miss Porter’s School 1886 - 1888, Theodate was charmed by the Village
of Farmington, with housing that dates back to the 1700s. Shortly thereafter, while on
the Grand Tour with her parents, she dreamed of owning a small New England farm. She sketched and made notes on buildings and scenes, and especially admired the beauty of the English countryside. Later, the Cotswald vernacular and Tudor styles she admired exerted a profound influence on her architectural designs. After the Grand Tour, she settled in Farmington with her parents’ blessing. She rented and eventually purchased an 18th-century saltbox she named “The O’Rourkery.” She spent several years restoring the house, and thus began her practical training as an architect.

Hill-Stead: A great new house on a hilltop
Hill-Stead was Theodate’s second on-the-job architectural experience. Alfred Pope wanted to own a country estate back East near family and friends. His goal coincided with his daughter’s dream of establishing a New England farmstead. He purchased tracts of land on the hill behind The O’Rourkery, and ultimately amassed 250 acres. Theodate sited the Pope house at the crest of a hill, as if to announce the wealth and prominence of its residents. She worked with Edgerton Swartout, a junior architect at the distinguished New York firm of McKim, Mead & White, and designed a clapboard house equipped with the latest modern conveniences. In the spring of 1901, Alfred and Ada Pope moved into their “great new house on a hilltop,” as American novelist and occasional house guest Henry James would later describe it.

Avon Old Farms School
Avon Old Farms School in
Avon, Connecticut, was Theodate’s most ambitious professional project, occupying her from 1922 to 1946. In addition to designing the buildings, she helped develop the curriculum, hire staff and oversee operations. She built
the school as a memorial to her parents and financed the undertaking with her inheritance. The school opened on 2,700 acres in 1927.

A full life
In May 1915, Theodate traveled to England to visit the British Society of Psychical Research. She was a passenger on the R.M.S. Lusitania when it was torpedoed by a German submarine; she was fortunate to be among the survivors. One year later, at age 49, she married 52-year-old John Wallace Riddle, a diplomat, whom she had met 12 years earlier through Farmington neighbor Anna Roosevelt Cowles. During much of their marriage, the Riddles traveled widely, including taking an extensive tour of Japan, Korea and China. In 1914, Theodate had taken in a two-year-old orphan, Gordon Brockway, who died in 1916. In 1917 and 1918, she took in two more orphaned boys, Donald Carson and Paul Martin, whom she raised as foster children.

An eduring legacy
Theodate died in 1946. Her will stipulated that Hill-Stead become a museum as a memorial to her parents and “for the benefit and enjoyment of the public.” She called for the house and its contents to remain intact, not to be moved, lent or sold. Along with Hill-Stead, all of Theodate’s buildings stand today as enduring testimony to one of this country’s earliest important women architects.

Significant achievements