Kingwood Hall was the home built for Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kelley King. Construction began in 1926 and once completed, the original home on the property was divided into three sections and moved across the street to Glenbeck Lane.
Kingwood Hall was designed in a French Provincial style by Clarence Mack, who made a career of building luxurious houses in the Cleveland, OH, Grosse Point, MI and later Palm Beach, FL areas. The home was built during a period of history (1895 – 1930’s) called the Country Place Era in which particularly wealthy Americans had a common calling to pursue the ideal of country life, as epitomized by the English Country Home.
Following Mr. King’s death in 1952, the mansion was utilized for offices, a horticultural library, events, classes and more. Bedroom furnishings were sold to make room for offices, but most of Mr. King’s original furnishings were retained and are now used to present many rooms in Kingwood Hall much as they were during his residency.
As Kingwood Center Gardens has grown, the house has gradually been used less for operational activities and more as an historic home. In 2020, the administrative offices moved out of the house and into the Garden Gateway. Additionally, the “Restore the Third Floor” project kicked off and efforts began to renovate and restore the third floor living quarters. In 2021, Mr. and Mrs. King’s bedrooms and bathrooms, the adjoining boudoir, and the staff quarters became open for scheduled guided tours.
Kingwood Hall contains five levels, including a basement, three living levels, and a full attic. There are over forty rooms including five main bedrooms, four servant quarters, ten bathrooms, an elevator, whole-house vacuum system, and twelve fireplaces – each uniquely designed. The house encloses about 20,000 square feet of floor space.
Kingwood Hall hours: March – October (closes 1 hour before Gardens close). December (during Christmas at Kingwood only). Closed November (in preparation for Christmas at Kingwood). Closed January and February.
Please note, Kingwood is a historic garden estate on the National Register of Historic Places. Mr. King’s former home, Kingwood Hall, retains many of its original features, including its service lift, a small freight elevator historically used by staff to transport supplies like groceries and firewood to upper levels. As service lifts are not intended for individual accessibility, the lift may not be available during special events or other high-traffic times.
