The Glen: Mrs. Taylor's Manor House

We call it the Glen Manor House, but the Glen Farm families called it “The Big House,” and the Taylor family called it simply “The Glen.”  Even though the Taylors began buying the land around the Glen in the 1880s, the Taylor family did not begin construction on their home until 1920.  

The Taylor family had a home in Newport on Annandale Avenue which had been designed by famous architects McKim, Mead and White. But the Taylor family preferred the countryside of Portsmouth to the high society of Newport, so they hired John Russell Pope to design their new home.  Moses Taylor and his wife Edith had lost a son in World War I in France.  There are stories that the French chateau style and the broad grass steps of the house were designed to remember the place where their son died. The Manor House was completed in 1923 and Moses Taylor died in 1928.

John Russell Pope, the architect, had encouraged the Taylors to hire the Olmsted Firm to do the landscaping.  The founder of the firm, Frederick Law Olmsted was one of the best known landscape designers and the company continued with his sons. Percial Gallagher of the Olmsted Firm was the chief designer of the Glen Farm property. The gardens were designed to be at their best in July and August when the Taylors would be in residence.  Fresh flowers were brought to the house every day.  The Taylors had a permanent Garden staff that took care of the gardens while the Farm staff took care of the farm.

Edith Taylor was very concerned about the garden plans.  Her rose garden was planted in a circlular shape on the lower lawn.  Among the trees listed in the Olmsted archives are lindens, elms, hemlocks, spruce, tulip trees, red and scarlet oaks, larch, purple beech and pines.   Some of the trees were grown in the Glen nursery or brought from Long Island, but a letter from Theodore Bowman notes that  “Vanicek delivered thirty four trees and shrubs.” Today the Vanicek family business, Rhode Island Nurseries, grows trees and shrubs on the former Glen Farm land.

During a 1997 visit to the Glen, Moses (Tony)Taylor VII, Edith Taylor’s grandson, shared his memories of visiting his grandmother in the 1920s and 30s.   He remembers  a very formal life at the Glen.  Everyone dressed for dinner.  There was a house staff of over ten individuals, a garden staff and a  person whose full time job was bringing in and arranging fresh flowers in the Flower Room.  Mrs. Taylor used to enjoy sitting in the verandah watching the river. 

She enjoyed sailing and there was a dock and boat house at the Manor House.  Her 24 foot sailboat (named the “Nieuport”) was anchored off the dock.  When Mrs. Taylor was elderly and no longer sailed, she had a painting of the view from the river along the ceiling of her bathroom.  The Taylors also had a yacht called the “Iolanda “ which they used for foreign travel.  The boathouse by the dock had showers and changing rooms so they could freshen up after sailing or enjoying the beach (Sandy Point).  The stone boathouse that was cut into the hill was where they stored small boats and there was a skeet range on top of this structure.  The skeet range was built by Guthrie Nicholson, Mrs. Taylor’s second husband.

Reginald Taylor, son of Edith and Moses Taylor, inherited Glen Farm and the Manor House in 1959. He began selling pieces of the property.  The Manor House and the 43 acres surrounding it were sold to the Sisters of the Sacred Heart for use as a private school. Today the Manor House is owned by the town of Portsmouth. Through the efforts of managers Katie and Don Wilkinson, the Glen Manor House Authority and the Friends of Glen Manor House, the Manor House has become a real treasure for the town of Portsmouth.