Wilmington, DE

The estate of Nemours is the site of The Nemours Foundation, created and maintained in support of two primary missions: the maintenance and display of the Nemours Mansion and Gardens, previously A. I. duPont’s home, and the A. I. duPont Hospital for Children. Ayers/Saint/Gross is designing a Visitor Center for the Mansion and Gardens.

The Visitor Center will include: reception, ticketing, visitor support, a small auditorium, and an exhibition space which may include museum-quality artifacts. The building and its 2-1/2 acre site will provide an introduction to the Nemours Mansion and Gardens, allowing visitors to experience the formal entrance to the mansion in the manner with which it was originally intended.

The proposed site for the construction of the visitor center is currently a paved parking lot sited just beyond the walls of the original property at the Mansion’s entry drive. This original property is a rolling, heavily wooded site with the exception of the Mansion and Gardens. The house is a replica of the Petite Trianon at Versaille, and the gardens imitate this tradition as well with their parterre design that steps down the site with the topography.

The proposed Visitors’ Center will be a piece of the composition of the entire property, and will act as a portal and a reflection of the regional context. The Visitor Center will be a part of the landscape rather than an object set within it. Like the Mansion and Gardens, the Visitors’ Center and its gardens will make full use of its site and topography. The buildings are strung in a line to take advantage of the length of the site, allowing the building to be oriented towards the Mansion, along with the visitors. Garden rooms move through the site along with the building, providing various sizes and types of gardens for large and small gatherings. At one end of the site there is a bus pick-up and drop-off area, while the other end of the site provides a turn-around for the Mansion tour bus. A linear reflecting pool runs the length of the building, dropping with the grade to an infiltration garden. An existing greenway path will remain as an element of the site, while physically separated from the visitors and their experience.

Completion: 2007
Size: 2.5 Acres
Cost: N/A