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Written by Michael Muckian, Contributing writer
Aug 12, 2011
Photos: Ten Chimneys Foundation
Photos: Ten Chimneys Foundation
Picture yourself as Laurence Olivier, Noël Coward, Katherine Hepburn or any of many theatrical luminaries of the 1930s and 1940s. You’ve been invited to Ten Chimneys, the summer home of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, then Broadway’s most powerful acting couple. The fact that you received an invitation makes you part of the theatrical elite.
Tours of the national historic landmark in Genesee Depot (30 miles west of Milwaukee) begin just that way. The docents set the stage outside the door of Ten Chimneys’ main house as if the Lunts were just inside awaiting their guests’ arrival. Visitors in groups of no more than eight then begin a tour that takes them back in time through a meticulously restored world of high art and gracious living.
“Ten Chimneys is a truly inspirational place,” says Sean Malone, president of the Ten Chimneys Foundation, which oversees the historic property. “For half a century, this was the center of the theatrical universe.”
The 29-acre estate was Alfred Lunt’s family home. It’s where he brought his wife, the English actress Lynn Fontanne, when the Broadway season ended each summer. It’s named for the ten chimneys that rise out of the main house and some of the estate’s outbuildings, a collection of structures that includes a Swedish log cabin, an L-shaped pool and pool house and a creamery.
The Lunts retired from the theater in 1960 and lived in Ten Chimneys year-round. Alfred Lunt died in 1977, Lynn Fontanne in 1983. The property fell into disrepair and was destined for the wrecking ball until the late Joe Garton, a theater historian, arts advocate and owner of Madison’s Quivey’s Grove restaurant, began an effort in 1996 that resulted in the formation of the Ten Chimneys Foundation and the restoration of the property. Restoration efforts focused not on creating a brand new Ten Chimneys, but one that had a comfortable lived-in feeling, as if the home’s occupants were just around the corner.
The newly restored Ten Chimneys opened to the public on May 26, 2003, a date that would have been the Lunts’ 81st wedding anniversary. Since then, it has welcomed more than 150,000 visitors.
“When people come through they truly do feel as if they’re guests of the Lunts, which is why they love it,” Malone says. “Surprisingly, 75 percent of visitors have no idea who the Lunts were, which is why we couldn’t create another Graceland.”
Ten Chimney’s docents undergo 14 weeks of training in which they steep themselves in the lore of the property. The Lunts and their guests played and relaxed here, but they also debated the issues facing arts and theater – and they rehearsed their upcoming works. The Milwaukee Rep’s upcoming production of Jeffrey Hatcher’s play “Ten Chimneys” captures one such rehearsal for Chekov’s “The Seagull,” a production in which Lunt and Fontanne appeared with Uta Hagen and Sydney Greenstreet (see page 23).
But it’s the quirky experiences and homey touches that give the Ten Chimneys tours their charm. The parlor, bedrooms and sitting rooms offer the details of a comfortable and vibrant life, including the piano on which playwright, actor and entertainer Noël Coward frequently performed and a framed photograph of Fontanne dyeing actor Helen Hayes’ hair.
Then there is the lore of the property that is shared during every tour. The critic Alexander Wolcott, a man as robust in body as he was in opinion, liked to roam the estate in his bright orange pajamas, Malone says.Coward, perhaps the Lunts’ most frequent visitor, liked to roam the estate wearing nothing at all, swimming in the nude and frightening the hired help.
“The Lunts lost at least one cook because Coward didn’t like bathing suits and insisted on strolling through the kitchen on his way to the pool,” Malone says.
Coward is rumored to have written his play “Design for Living” about his relationship with the Lunts, including affairs with each of them. Malone dismisses the notion, but not the concept behind the title.
“The Lunts did have a design for living and believed you can live your life just as you choose and not by the standards of others,” he says. “I think if the Lunts saw Ten Chimneys today they would be really excited by it, because it so reflects what they valued.”
