Mansion

Wilmington, Del. - The rich are different from the rest of us. They have better gardens. But if we are lucky, they let us visit those gardens, drinking in the serenity, marveling at the perfection. That is certainly the case with Nemours, the mansion and gardens created at the turn of the 20th century by Alfred I. duPont, the great-great-grandson of Pierre Samuel duPont, the French aristocrat who immigrated to this country and founded a family fortune by making gunpowder. Nemours, both the 47,000-square-foot mansion and the 220 acres of gardens, has just undergone a $39 million face-lift overseen by Sandra Parson Vicchio of the Baltimore architectural firm Ayers Saint Gross, which also designed the award-winning visitors center.

Supreme Court lets stand award to FedEx worker The U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition for review of a Baltimore case involving punitive damages awarded to a former Federal Express worker who is deaf under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said yesterday. That means the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals upholding a $100,000 punitive damages award in an EEOC lawsuit stands. In March 2006, a federal jury ordered FedEx to pay that amount for failing to accommodate Ronald Lockhart, who worked as a package handler at FedEx's facility at BWI. FedEx did not return a call for comment yesterday.

LOS ANGELES - In Beverly Hills, a 32,000-square-foot beaux-arts mansion that will be sheathed in Portuguese limestone and adorned with gold-plated doorknobs fashioned in France is rising on Sunset Boulevard. A few miles away in Bel-Air, businessman Eri Kroh has requested permits to lop off the top of a hill, fill in a canyon and then, after moving 68,000 cubic yards of dirt, replace the chaparral-covered lot with a 30,000-plus square-foot single-family home with Pacific Ocean views. Just down the hill, workers recently were building retaining walls for a giant lot that real estate experts say could soon feature one or two giant palacelike homes.

The reprieve was short-lived. Preservationists who had hoped to save a row of buildings next to the old St. Stanislaus Kostka Roman Catholic Church in Fells Point watched helplessly yesterday as a wrecking crew, armed with freshly granted approval from the city, began taking apart one of the structures. Last week, the workers were forced to postpone the demolition when told by City Councilman James B. Kraft that they lacked official approval of their plan to stabilize an 18th-century mansion that the preservationists hope will remain standing after the buildings on either side of it have been torn down.

Jane Farrington's first impression of what would be her new home in Baltimore's Mount Vernon neighborhood was one of awe the moment she and her husband stepped beyond the tiny vestibule entrance. "We walked in the front door," Farrington remembered, "I took one look at the spiral staircase and thought, "Oh God, I hope the basement is dry!" The basement - partially above ground in the circa 1882 townhouse - was completely dry. The four-story brick home, in fact, had been beautifully maintained by its former owner, clinching the deal for Farrington and her husband, Gregg Davis.

Four years ago, Drew Riger walked into a rundown, five-story Greek revival mansion for sale in Baltimore's Mount Vernon neighborhood. He was no stranger to the back-breaking labor involved in restoration, having just completed work on an old mill house in historic Oella in Baltimore County. That experience, however, did not soften the blow. "I walked about 50 feet into the house, turned around and said, `No way!'" he remembered.

Day's End Farm Horse Rescue Inc. will offer its annual holiday party, with food, dancing and prizes, from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday at Ten Oaks Ballroom in Clarksville. The After Hours band will play golden oldies and rock 'n' roll. Door prizes will be awarded throughout the evening and a 50/50 raffle is planned. Tickets are $40 plus a gift for the horses. Tables for 10 are $325. Included are an appetizer buffet with beer, wine and soda; a cash bar will be available. Proceeds will benefit abused and neglected horses and ponies that have been rescued and brought to live at the nonprofit farm.

Visitors are likely to be awed by the opulent 18th- and 19th-century furnishings that fill the historic Hampton Mansion in Towson, which reopens this morning after being closed for nearly three years for a $3.3 million renovation. But guests are not supposed to notice what the staff considers some of the building's most impressive upgrades. About 100 fire sprinkler heads have been installed flush with the ceilings -- part of a fire-suppression system that is so sensitive people are not supposed to smoke even near the exterior doors.

ISSUE: In his first year living at Government House in downtown Annapolis, Gov. Martin O'Malley took the sedate route in Halloween decorating: two ghosts and a scarecrow, hay bales, cornstalks, a pair of leaf wreaths, mums. Under O'Malley's predecessor in the mansion, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., the capital became an inflatable nation. A giant blow-up pumpkin, an air-filled Dracula, tombstones, giant eyeballs and many other holiday trimmings blanketed the front lawn. YOUR VIEW: As the Christmas season decorating extravaganza nears, what kind of decorations do you prefer outside the governor's mansion?