# Alice DeLamar

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Alice_DeLamar
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Alice_DeLamar.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_DeLamar
> Source revision: 1339027524
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|American patron of the arts (1895–1983)}}
thumb|Alice DeLamar, 1927

'''Alice DeLamar''' (April 23, 1895 – August 31, 1983) was an American heiress and patron of the arts who was the only child of [Joseph Raphael De Lamar](/source/Joseph_Raphael_De_Lamar).<ref name="Craven">{{cite book|author=Wayne Craven|title=Gilded Mansions: Grand Architecture and High Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1BrBHQfpEcAC&pg=PA354|year=2009|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|isbn=978-0-393-06754-5|page=354}}</ref><ref name="Leddick2015">{{cite book|author=David Leddick|title=Intimate Companions: A Triography of George Platt Lynes, Paul Cadmus, Lincoln Kirstein, and Their Circle|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8LCpCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT277|date=24 November 2015|publisher=St. Martin's Press|isbn=978-1-250-10478-6|page=277}}</ref> She helped fund plays by [Mercedes de Acosta](/source/Mercedes_de_Acosta).<ref name="MarraSchanke2002">{{cite book|author1=Kim Marra|author2=Robert A. Schanke|title=Staging Desire: Queer Readings of American Theater History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iJUbW7B6bnAC&pg=PA91|year=2002|publisher=University of Michigan Press|isbn=0-472-06749-4|page=91}}</ref> DeLamar also donated some of her land in [Palm Beach, Florida](/source/Palm_Beach%2C_Florida) to the [Audubon Society](/source/Audubon_Society) in the 1960s.<ref name="Snyder2013">{{cite book|author=James D. Snyder|title=A Visitor's Guide to Jonathan Dickinson State Park|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fh9dDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT32|date=30 December 2013|publisher=BookBaby|isbn=978-1-61850-029-8|page=32}}</ref>

==Early life==
[[File:Polish consulate in New York.jpg|thumb|upright|[Joseph Raphael De Lamar House](/source/Joseph_Raphael_De_Lamar_House) at Madison Avenue and 37th Street in Manhattan, now the Polish Consulate]]

DeLamar was born April 23, 1895, in [New York City](/source/New_York_City) to [Joseph Raphael De Lamar](/source/Joseph_Raphael_De_Lamar) and Nellie Sands.<ref name="Craven" /><ref name="Schanke2007">{{cite book|author=Robert A Schanke|title=Angels in the American Theater: Patrons, Patronage, and Philanthropy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4jexrp2saSEC&pg=PA56|date=7 March 2007|publisher=SIU Press|isbn=978-0-8093-8743-4|page=56}}</ref> She was their only child. The DeLamars had a mansion in New York City and an estate on [Glen Cove](/source/Glen_Cove%2C_New_York) on Long Island called Pennbrook<ref name="Pommer" /> or Pembroke.<ref name="WT" /> After she was born the family moved to Paris, where she lived until she and her father moved back to New York City in 1900. Late in the 1900s, DeLamar was put into the [Spence School](/source/Spence_School) by her godfather, [William Nelson Cromwell](/source/William_Nelson_Cromwell).<ref name="Mizner2013">{{cite book|author=Addison Mizner|title=Florida Architecture of Addison Mizner|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OaC8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PT13|date=17 January 2013|publisher=Courier Corporation|isbn=978-0-486-14202-9|pages=12–13}}</ref> Her parents divorced in 1910,<ref name="Pommer">{{cite book|author1=Alfred Pommer|author2=Joyce Pommer|title=Exploring Manhattan's Murray Hill|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vNR2CQAAQBAJ&pg=PT77|date=5 November 2013|publisher=Arcadia Publishing Incorporated|isbn=978-1-62584-515-3|page=PT77}}</ref> and her father gained custody of her.<ref name="WT">{{cite news|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026749/1921-12-11/ed-1/seq-53/|title=The $10,000,000 Heiress Who Runs Herself|newspaper=The Washington Times|date=December 11, 1921|page=3|via=Chronically America, Library of Congress}}</ref> She had a half-sister, Consuelo Hatmaker,<ref>Consuelo Hatmaker was wife of French ace pilot and adventurer [Charles Nungesser](/source/Charles_Nungesser).</ref> from her mother and her second husband, James Hatmaker.<ref name="PI Bachelor Girl">{{cite news|url= https://www.newspapers.com/image/171117070/|title=Why the Richest Bachelor Girl Became a Landlady |date=May 16, 1937 |newspaper=The Philadelphia Inquirer|page=117|access-date=July 19, 2017|via=newspapers.com|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

After she graduated from the Spence School, DeLamar and Evangeline Johnson, one of her schoolmates, volunteered for the [Red Cross Motor Corps](/source/American_Red_Cross_Motor_Corps) in Europe during [World War I](/source/World_War_I).<ref name="Mizner2013"/> Joseph Raphael De Lamar, Alice DeLamar's father, died December 1, 1918, making her the inheritor of $10 million ({{inflation|US|10000000|1918|fmt=eq}})<ref name="Mizner2013"/><ref name="DLR" /> and was subsequently called the richest bachelor girl in the United States.<ref name="PI Bachelor Girl" /> Preferring a simpler life, she eschewed the family mansion for a Park Avenue apartment following her father's death.<ref name="Pommer" />

==Career==
===Philanthropy===
DeLamar was a [patron](/source/Patronage) of the arts and supported the careers of architects, artists, choreographers and writers, but she often preferred to remain anonymous when making financial donations.<ref name="NYSD" /> She commissioned [Ida Tarbell](/source/Ida_Tarbell) to write a book about architect [Addison Mizner](/source/Addison_Mizner), that was illustrated by photographs of Frank Geisler, when Mizner was experiencing financial difficulties. She oversaw the work, including selecting images for the book.<ref name="NYSD" />

She supported environmental and social organizations. In 1969, she donated the land to the [Aspetuck Land Trust](/source/Aspetuck_Land_Trust) for the 21-acre Stonebridge Waterfowl Preserve in Weston, Connecticut.<ref name="Stonebridge">{{cite web|url=http://www.aspetucklandtrust.org/17202|title=Weston: Stonebridge Preserve|website=Aspetuck Land Trust|access-date=July 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822090205/http://www.aspetucklandtrust.org/17202|archive-date=August 22, 2017|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref>thumb|left|Worth Avenue Gallery, located at 347 Worth Avenue, Palm Beach, Florida, was the site of an art gallery owned by DeLamar.

===Business===
Beginning in 1936, she operated a restaurant in [Weston](/source/Weston%2C_Connecticut), the Cobbs Mill Inn,<ref name="Stonebridge" /> where members of the arts dined.<ref name="NYSD" /> She purchased and renovated properties along [Newtown Turnpike](/source/Connecticut_Route_53) near her home in [Connecticut](/source/Connecticut) that she then leased out to artists that she encouraged.<ref name="PI Bachelor Girl" /><ref name="WHS">{{cite web|url=http://www.thewestonforum.com/47810/weston-historical-society-house-tour-public-gets-glimpse-of-landmark-homes/|title=Weston Historical Society house tour: Public gets glimpse of landmark homes|author=Patricia Gay|date=May 8, 2015|access-date=July 19, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170717022859/http://www.thewestonforum.com/47810/weston-historical-society-house-tour-public-gets-glimpse-of-landmark-homes/|archive-date=July 17, 2017|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref> In Palm Beach, Florida, she opened the Worth Avenue Gallery in 1942. It was an art gallery that promoted the works of up-and-coming artists.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/unforgettable-palm-beach-early-gallery-owners-patrons-ushered-art-explosion/5ns6hlc8QhtmTN3DmmFsVL/|title=Unforgettable Palm Beach: Early gallery owners, patrons ushered in art explosion|author=Augustus Mayhew|date=April 23, 2011|website=Palm Beach Daily News|archive-date=August 18, 2017|access-date=July 19, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818215336/http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/unforgettable-palm-beach-early-gallery-owners-patrons-ushered-art-explosion/5ns6hlc8QhtmTN3DmmFsVL/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Personal life==
thumb|The rear of Alice DeLamar's Connecticut estate, Stonebrook
DeLamar lived at the estate named Stonebrook, located in Weston, Connecticut that she had built in the 1930s.<ref name="Stonebridge" /><ref name="WHS" /> Her visitors included [Dave Brubeck](/source/Dave_Brubeck), [Laura Ingalls Wilder](/source/Laura_Ingalls_Wilder), [Salvador Dalí](/source/Salvador_Dal%C3%AD), [Eva Le Gallienne](/source/Eva_Le_Gallienne), and [George Balanchine](/source/George_Balanchine).<ref name="WHS" /> On this estate, she had a pool built that includes a tunnel leading from the basement. It is rumored that this was so she could swim in the nude without fear of being seen or the need to walk outside.{{citation needed|date=September 2018}}

thumb|upright|Royal Palm Memorial Gardens, West Palm Beach, FloridaShe also had a house in Palm Beach, Florida along the ocean; a townhouse in Paris that was previously owned by [Gerald Murphy](/source/Gerald_Murphy); and an apartment at 530 [Park Avenue](/source/Park_Avenue) in New York.<ref name="NYSD">{{cite web|url=http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/social-history/2009/palm-beach-social-history|title=Palm Beach Social History|date=April 23, 2009|website=New York Social Diary|access-date=July 18, 2017}}</ref>

For six decades, DeLamar was [Eva Le Gallienne](/source/Eva_Le_Gallienne)'s lover and financial supporter.<ref name="Ware">{{cite book|author=Susan Ware|title=Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary Completing the Twentieth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WSaMu4F06AQC&pg=PA378|year=2004|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-01488-6|page=378}}</ref> She backed plays<ref name="MarraSchanke2002"/> and she is believed to have provided funding for the Civic Repertory Theatre established by Le Gallienne in New York City.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americantheatre.org/2016/11/07/this-month-in-theatre-history-19/|title=This Month in Theatre History|date=November 7, 2016|website=American Theatre|access-date=July 19, 2017}}</ref>

While seeking treatment for liver cancer, DeLamar hit her head when she fell in the South Norwalk hospital, which led to her death. Her remains were cremated and buried in West Palm Beach. A large portion of her estate went to [Harvard](/source/Harvard_University), [Columbia](/source/Columbia_University), and [Johns Hopkins Universities](/source/Johns_Hopkins_University), in accordance with her father's will.<ref name="DLR">{{cite book|title=Dominion Law Reports|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5hlQAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA251|year=1922|publisher=Canada Law Book Company|pages=251–252}}</ref><ref name="NYSD" /> Le Gallienne received $1 million<ref name="Ware" /> or a quarter of her estate,<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert A Schanke|title=Angels in the American Theater: Patrons, Patronage, and Philanthropy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MEDLIJdtFnEC&pg=PA70|year=2007|publisher=SIU Press|isbn=978-0-8093-2747-8|page=70}}</ref> including the land and house that DeLamar purchased for her.<ref name="NYSD" />

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite magazine |ref=none|url=https://issuu.com/westonmagazinegroup/docs/fall_2011-upper_east/47|title=The Educator and the Heiress|author=Elizabeth Spaulding Titus|magazine=Upper East Side Magazine|date=Fall 2011|pages=48–49}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:DeLamar, Alice}}
Category:1895 births
Category:1983 deaths
Category:American art patrons
Category:Philanthropists from New York (state)
Category:People from Manhattan
Category:Lesbian businesswomen
Category:People from Weston, Connecticut
Category:Spence School alumni
Category:20th-century American philanthropists
Category:American LGBTQ businesspeople
Category:20th-century American LGBTQ people
Category:LGBTQ people from New York (state)

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Alice DeLamar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_DeLamar) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_DeLamar?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.