Joseph Garton, a champion of theatre who saved the estate of the late acting legends Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, died Sat., August 2, at his home in Madison, Wisconsin. He was 56. The cause of death was cancer.
The Wisconsin-based Lunt-Fontanne estate, dubbed Ten Chimneys, was sold to a developer in 1994 and probably would have been destroyed without the efforts of Garton, who launched a major campaign by contacting newspapers and politicians. In addition, he took out a $10 million loan to purchase the property when the developer let his option on the real estate pass.
Shortly thereafter, Ten Chimneys Foundation was formed, and it bought back the property. After seven years of fundraising and renovation, Ten Chimneys became a museum and cultural center, open to the public. The estate is an opulent, decorative, highly theatrical set of buildings in a hilly area of Genesee Depot, Wisconsin. Among the notable visitors to the estate during its heyday: Helen Hayes, Laurence Olivier, and Noel Coward.
A Sheboygan, Wisconsin native, Garten boasts several degrees, including a doctorate in cinema studies from New York University. Among the many hats he wore were running a gallery in New York, teaching film history at universities and museums, serving as president of Madison Repertory Theatre and Madison Civic Center Foundation, and working as a restaurateur.
For his efforts on behalf of Ten Chimneys, Garten received the Governor's Award in Support of the Arts.