Discovering Lillian Tiffany

Lillian Tiffany

9/19/2017

My interest in Lillian Tiffany the artist came about by chance. I found a reference to her while conducting research for my novel on the Durant family. She was famous for her artwork of dogs, both paintings and sketches, in the 1930s-1950s and lived in New City, New York with her husband, Durant Rose (Timbrell Durant Rose 1896 - 1962), son of Ella Durant Rose (1853-1943).

I was looking though the correspondence of Ella Durant Rose in the Syracuse University Collections of her papers and found letters addressed to 'Lillian Tiffany Rose' Ella's daughter-in-law dated 1932-34.

As if I had nothing better to do with my time, I went to New York City to look through the papers of Poultney Bigelow, housed at the New York Public Library. I discovered correspondence from Lillian Tiffany, including her own personally-sketched Christmas cards. In them she mentions how busy her husband Durant is busy with his job. I then made the connection: Durant Rose, Ella Durant's son and Lillian's husband, was Poultney’s Bigelow's Godson.

I didn’t think too much about it until one day I stumbled upon a request from somebody on Ancestry.com asking for information about the artist Lillian Tiffany Durant. The person making the request knew there was a connection to Durant but didn’t realize it was Durant Rose.

Soon afterwards I received an inquiry from someone in New City, NY that happened to buy the house that Lillian and Durant built in 1937. He was doing renovations when he found some of Lillian’s sketches and when he Googled the Durant name he found my website and blog about the Durant family (interestingly there is a Durant Rd. and Rose Blvd in the same town).

I explained the connection to him. I don’t know very much about Ella Durant’s life after the lawsuit she won against her brother in 1903 to claim her part of the inheritance left by their father Dr. Thomas C. Durant. She helped found the Dante Society, wrote a few novels and published a book of poetry. She contributed articles to the New York Times. She married Charles Rose late in her life, and had her son Durant when she was around 43 years of age.

The fact that she made Poultney Bigelow the godfather of her only son is a testament to their close friendship that began one summer in the Adirondacks in 1878 and lasted well into the 1930s.

I know even less about Lillian Tiffany and Durant Rose. Their lives do not intertwine with the timeline of my novel so I would have no reason to investigate further except for the fact that I am curious. When I looked up Lillian’s artwork on the Internet I found that some of her paintings sell for ~$2,000. If anyone else knows more about the life of Lillian Tiffany, please share.

Lillian Tiffany Sketches courtesy of Poultney Bigelow papers. Manuscripts and Archives Division. The New York Public Library. Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations.

Copyright Undetermined.

Jesse Kane Isaacs

12/26/2014 05:10:42 pm

I'm the fellow who purchased the Hawthorn Lodge - the former estate of Durant Rose and / or potentially any member of the Durant family. I'm curious about what function or purpose the Durant family had far this property, as it is a fairly large estate comprised of several buildings of impressive size and sits on several dozen acres in a town located merely 20 minutes north of Manhattan. The setup certainly lends itself to be a family retreat or a place to spend the holidays.
As I write this comment, I'm admiring some sketches done by Lillian Tiffany Durant of this very house (signed simply "Tiffany").
I'd be happy to send you a snapshot of the sketches if you'd like.

Suzanne Toscano Cronk

3/18/2015 01:57:54 pm

I grew up in what I believe was the guest house in the estate. My parents still live there and have owned the house for close to 45 years. Which home is the Hawthorn Lodge?

Sheila Myers

3/19/2015 02:08:59 am

I would love to know if they have stumbled upon any pictures or documents, letters etc. that may have belonged to Durant Rose's mother, Ella Durant Rose. As far as I can tell there is only one picture of Ella when she was in her 30s and had published her play on Dante.

3/19/2015 03:44:35 am

Hi, my name is Jesse and I live in the house directly behind Mr Toscano's house - on the other side of the stone wall. I purchased the property in 2006 and completely gutted it down to just the stone walls. I renovated the what was salvageable and added an addition to it; forming a U-shaped if viewed from above. Doing so created a courtyard in the rear of the house.

As a matter of fact, Mr. Toscano (your father I assume) was my Physical Education teacher way, way back when I was a kid in high school.

My property is actually called the "Hearthstone Lodge", but throughout the years, the name has been misinterpreted by various owners and neighbors and somehow the name Hawthorne came to be. However, I have some sketches of the house that were drawn by Lilian Tiffany and they clearly show that the house I live in was indeed called the Hearthstone Lodge.

It's so great to learn all of this amazing history about our properties.

On a personal note, I have always admired your property very much and I've had a great deal of respect for your father ever since I was a kid. I attended North HS for freshman year and transferred to South HS where I graduated back in 1992. Boy, the years fly by!

3/19/2015 06:24:48 am

Hi Jesse,
So you must be next house up the long driveway from the Lehrman's house. I haven't been in your house since I was a little girl. There was an older couple that lived there, they were really sweet. I went over now and again to play with their grandkids when they were visiting. I always loved that house. It's amazing how much character these homes have.

We have postcards from Lillian Tiffany to William Durant. We used to have the drawings of the buildings but they are now in the possession of another neighbor. I would love to see snapshots of the sketches that you have! I wish I could find a photo of Lillian Tiffany. I always wanted to know more about her.

Thank you for the kind words about my father..he is one in a million! I am always over at their house visiting. I love bringing my daughter to the home where I grew up.

3/19/2015 09:09:35 am

Hi!

Yep, that's the house - right next to Fred & Judy. You're welcome to come on by anytime you'd like. I have two daughters of my own who love playing with new friends - my youngest is three and my oldest is six.

We've made some significant changes to the house but tried to keep as much as the original character as possible. Feel free to email me directly. You can get my email address from the author of this blog.

Thanks for the reply. It's so cool to have a place like this where we can learn so much about the history of the Durant family and the amazing compound that we all now call home (pieces of it anyway).

I hope to hear from you soon.

JKI

12/27/2014 04:48:26 am

I'd love to see the sketches. I wonder what Durant Rose did for a living as well. In letters from Lillian to Poultney Bigelow dated in the 1930s she mentions he was in Washington D.C. for business a lot. And I wonder where they go their money. By then the Durant fortune was gone.

edd hogeboom

3/3/2015 03:02:27 pm

My late Grandmother and Lillian Tiffany were very close friends. I have a substantial number of post cards that have Ms. Tiffany's drawings on them. Many have dogs and some have flowers on them. Some of the cards have personal messages written by Mrs.Tiffany. There are three sheets of paper with copies of three of her drawings describing the ironies and absurdities of Washington politics. I personally met Mrs. Tiffany as a very young boy when my grandmother and her husband lived in a house on the Durant estate. Email me if anyone is interested in purchasing these artifacts.

3/19/2015 03:48:49 am

Hi Ed,

I currently live in one of the houses on the estate and I would definitely be interested in viewing what you have and possibly purchasing some of it. Please get back to me at your earliest convenience so we can discuss.

Tara Betsch

6/14/2016 09:12:46 am

I also have some of Lillian's postcards (both new and ones sent to my grandparents over the course of their 20+ year friendship). Please let me know if you are interested in viewing and/or purchasing some of these items.

3/19/2015 07:42:27 am

I am so glad I am able to help people reconnect. Now if someone could help me find Ella Durant's diary - it must be hidden in some secret wall somewhere on the estate - I would be a happy camper.

Jamie Thompson

4/23/2015 08:34:10 am

I grew up in New City NY and my father, Dr. Jim Dingman was Lillian Tiffany Rose's personal physician. I have a drawing she did of my Dad in the early 1950s, some dog books with her name written in them as belonging to her library and a letter to my dad from the Tortolas in 1961 discussing her poor health and a mention of Durant. Anyone interested in books or letter? I am moving and prompt reply appreciated if you are interested.

4/23/2015 10:58:35 am

This woman sure draws a lot of attention! Any idea whether she and Durant Rose had children? I am not sure if there are any descendants alive of Ella Durant Rose - her mother-in-law and character in my novel.

Bob Lowell

7/4/2015 02:49:11 am

I have a one page hand written letter from Lillian Tiffany to a "Dear Robert." It written on her personal stationery with a drawing of some Great Danes in the top left corner and her name and address on the right. The letter is written in beautiful calligraphic manuscript and signed "Lillian and Durant Rose." It's dated April 6, 1938. I'll send a scan to anyone who's interested. Bob

6/14/2016 08:48:40 am

My grandparents and Lillian Tiffany Rose were friends. I have some postcards done by Lillian Tiffany Rose, as well as some her postcards sent by her to my grandparents (from 1941-1962). One of those details her state of mind after Durant's death. If anyone is interested in these, please feel free to contact me.

Scott Daniel link

4/16/2017 06:39:27 am

Two days ago (4/14/17) a person walked into my gallery with a box with 4 scrap books - not filled with art but from Lillian and causes, art, comments, and articles she was interested in.

Jesse link

4/17/2017 07:09:34 pm

Wow that is so interesting. I'd love to see what you or anyone else has. It would be a neat idea for all of us to lay out everything that we have regarding the family and try to piece together more of the story. It could possibly be a great help to Sheila in connecting some of her dots and allow us to trade, purchase or admirer everyone else's collection. I'd be happy to host for anyone who would like to attend, which seems appropriate being that I'm writing this post from What used to be Lilian's actual house!

Another interesting tidbit... Bob mentioned that he has a beautifully hand written letter that Durant wrote in 1938 and that it had an address on it. I'd be curious to know what address she listed. My house was built in 1937 so it was a fairly new addition to the compound at that time.

Lastly - Sheila, the adjacent roads are named Durant Road & Rose Court. I bet that there is significance to pretty much every other road surrounding the compound, as the stone wall which was the property line of the entire estate runs for several miles in every direction and surrounds dozens of other streets. I'm also guessing that the further you get from the compound, the people who the roads are named after played less of a significant role in the family's life. Or maybe some secret love affair participant made it to street sign status... lol

4/17/2017 10:22:55 pm

Hello all who have shown an interest in Ella Durant and her daughter-in-law Lillian Tiffany and son Durant Rose - if you would like to please go to my contact page on this website - email me and let me know if you would like to share your email with the others in this comment thread to share information about your scrapbooks, letters, art work on this part of the family. My own preference is that you all decide to donate/sell your collections to a library that might take an interest such as Syracuse University or New York Public Library, both which host letters and correspondence of Heloise Durant Rose (Ella Durant).

Marianne B. Leese link

5/5/2017 02:00:05 pm

I am senior historian for the Historical Society of Rockland County and would be most interested in learning more about the Rose family. I became familiar with Heloise Durant Rose while doing some research on a Minnie Torkler, who also lived in New City. Minnie served on the Rockland County Welfare Association of which Heloise Durant Rose was founder (in 1913) and president. According to the 1926 Rockland County Red Book, the society "paid for doctors, nurses and operations, entertained convalescent soldiers and sailors, obtained redress in civil courts, gave away food, clothing, etc., gave hot lunches to school children, contributed to local institutions and Red Cross Relief Work, assisted left-over cases of other societies."
A branch of the railroad once ran up to New City. Heloise asked for a stop near where she lived and got it. The station was named Durant, and the surrounding area took on the name as well.
And how interesting that Dr. James Dingman was Lillian Tiffany Rose's physician. The Historical Society in its last history quarterly had an article about his father, Dr. John Clarence Dingman of Spring Valley.

Comments are closed.

Lillian Tiffany

Author

Categories