Brucemore

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The Board of Trustees and staff at Brucemore are grateful to the DeWolf family for their personal and Lil' Drug Store Products corporate gifts over the last 12 years. Suzy DeWolf has served on Brucemore Board of Trustees since 2017 and has participated on the Buildings and Grounds Committee as well as the Pride & Preservation capital campaign Executive Committee. The DeWolf family provided a significant leadership gift, positioning Brucemore's first campaign for success very early in the process.

The family and corporate gifts have primarily supported preservation at Brucemore. Using the estate for community programs, cultural events, and tours requires on-going preservation of the buildings, landscape, and infrastructure. The seven historic structures are complex puzzles of aging stone, wood, metal, slate, glass, and brick that need perpetual maintenance to continue serving as a “home” for the community. Their gifts have and continue to support several projects:

  • Mansion Service Porch Restoration - Stabilizing the 1916 foundation, windows, and terrace of the servant's entrance to the mansion.
  • Mansion Brick Façade Restoration - Repointing the brick on all four facades of the 1886 building.
  • Lord and Burnham Greenhouse Restoration - Restoring the glass enclosure and brick facades of the 1915 greenhouse.
  • Grant Wood Porch Conservation - Stabilizing and restoring a plaster art piece on a sleeping porch designed and created by Iowa's most famous artist in 1925.
  • Mansion Envelope Restoration Project - Preserving all windows and doors, and brick and stone on the mansion exterior.
  • Mansion Infrastructure Project Phase I: Sitewide Lights - Enhancing visitor experience by installing exterior lighting from gate to gate.
  • Historic Landscape Restoration: Derecho Recovery - Clearing, preparing, and initial planting of trees, bushes, grass, and flowers across the storm decimated 26-acre estate.

In addition to special gifts toward preservation, the family and company have also supported the day-to-day operations of the estate. This ensures the gates remain open and the estate is available to a diverse audience of landscape visitors, event attendees, tourists, and more. With these gifts, Brucemore events and programs, frequently collaborations with other non-profit organizations, celebrate and foster a vibrant local arts scene while generating important revenue to artists, vendors, technicians, musicians, and more, growing the impact of DeWolf family and corporate gifts beyond the estate.

The DeWolf family gifts look forward to the next generation - the next visitors, the next project, and the next event - that will provide a benefit to our shared community.

Katie Benedix
Development Manager
Brucemore
www.brucemore.org


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