Hillwood Museum & Gardens

It’s not for nothing that it’s known as a museum and a garden: the grounds are as much a reason as the collection of Russian art for making the trek from Downtown to this quiet, residential neighborhood. The house and garden were purchased by cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post in 1955 to house her collection of French and Russian decorative art. Seduced by Russian culture after living there for 18 months in the 1930s, Post amassed the largest collection of imperial Russian art objects outside that country. Portraits of tsars and tsarinas, palace furnishings and a porcelain service commissioned by Catherine the Great are displayed in Hillwood’s gilt and wood-paneled rooms. The French collection includes Sèvres porcelain, 18th-century furniture and Beauvais tapestries.

Visitors can also roam the 12-acre manicured grounds, including a Japanese-style garden with plunging waterfall. Guided evening tours, when offered, are not to be missed: the waning light makes for romantic strolls in the gardens.