Hidden Treasures

While the bird's-eye-view grandeur of the Higgins House is certainly breathtaking, it's the attention to detail and personal touches throughout that make it truly extraordinary. It seems there isn't a material untouched by elite craftsmanship, from exterior brickwork to interior wooden carvings--and everything in between.

One design in particular recurs throughout the house, both inside and out: an anchor with an intertwined porpoise. This emblem (complete with the name "Aldus") was the imprint of 16th-century Venetian printer, Aldus Manutius. The anchor symbolizes strength and stability; the porpoise speed and activity. This motif can be seen approaching the house in a large crest on the outside of the tower wall, carved into the bricks of the interior entrance hall, and again on the exterior stucco gables of the East Wing.

Also replete throughout the interior and across the gardens is intricate ironwork. With iron hinges brought back from England, Aldus designed ornamental pieces which took a Swedish craftsman two years to complete.