Henriette Granville Suhr in conversation with Marco Polo Stufano

Watch a documentary video of this June 1, 2011 program. The evening program is recorded in six parts, each approx.10-12 minutes long. The intro is only 3 minutes.

Part 1:  Introductions

Part 2:  Henriette Granville Suhr's early years

Part 3:  Henriette Granville Suhr's interior design career in New York City

Part 4:  The beginnings of the garden at Rocky Hills, starting in 1956

Part 5:  Rocky Hills today, Part 1

Part 6:  Rocky Hills today, Part 2

The Garden Conservancy is pleased to present the first of a series of illustrated conversations about the art of gardening, horticulture, design, and preservation. Henriette Granville Suhr will talk with her friend Marco Polo Stufano about her lifelong commitment to art and design—both indoors and out. The evening is co-hosted by the Garden Conservancy and the New York School of Interior Design

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

6 p.m.

The New York School of Interior Design

Arthur King Satz Auditorium

170 East 70 Street

New York, NY 10021

Click here for a map and directions to the lecture hall.

Admission

$25 per person

$20 for members of the Garden Conservancy, Friends of Rocky Hills, and students of the NYSID

Seating is limited; please reserve early to secure a spot.

May 26 update: we have reached capacity.

To be added to the waiting list, please call the Garden Conservancy at 845.265.2029.

Henriette Granville Suhr is a groundbreaking interior design executive and, with her husband, art conservator William Suhr, the creator of Rocky Hills, an eight-acre strolling garden within the natural woodland of Mount Kisco, New York.

Born in Austria, Mrs. Suhr spent her early years in Paris, moving to the United States in 1941. Mrs. Suhr went on to an illustrious career as an interior designer with a specialty in home furnishing displays. As head of Bloomingdale’s decorating department, she revolutionized interior design by introducing new, contemporary American and European furniture designers to the U.S. market and displaying their work in lavish model rooms (the first of their kind) featuring a blend of merchandise from many different sources. As one of Mrs. Suhr’s innovations, these model rooms educated consumers’ tastes, thus enabling them to make easier, more informed purchasing and décor decisions. After Bloomingdale’s, she worked as an interior designer and served as a consultant for numerous department stores, including Burdines, I. Magnin, and Lord & Taylor.

Henriette Suhr has also won renown for her creativity outdoors, especially in designing and creating the garden at Rocky Hills. Beginning in the 1950s, Henriette and William transformed their property into what the New York Times called an “eight-acre wonderland”—a rolling landscape of beautifully arranged flowers, shrubs, and trees—for which she received the Foundation for Landscape Studies’ 2009 Place Maker Award.

Rocky Hills is the first private garden from the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days program to also become a Preservation Project of the Conservancy. Thanks to the generosity and vision of Henriette Suhr, Rocky Hills will be preserved for the education and enjoyment of the public, owned and operated by the Westchester County Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation. The Garden Conservancy holds a conservation easement protecting the garden and assists with the development of local awareness and support.

Rocky Hills will be open for visitors on Saturday, May 28, from 2 to 6 p.m. See more information on our Open Days schedule.

Marco Polo Stufano is the founding Director of Horticulture at Wave Hill, located in the Bronx. He transformed Wave Hill into a preeminent horticultural attraction and filled that position for 34 years, retiring in October of 2001. He currently serves on the Rocky Hills Advisory Board and is the co-chair of the Garden Conservancy’s screening committee.

Portrait of Henriette Suhr (above) copyright Maria Robledo.

In the left-hand column, the bottom three photos of Rocky Hills are by Chelsea Stickel/Garden Design magazine.