Mrs. Charles Frederick Hoffman (1867-1929)

Founder and President of the International Garden Club, Inc.
Mrs. Hoffman was a wealthy New Yorker with an interest in the exchange of American and European horticultural knowledge. The International Garden Club, Inc., which was closely allied with the Royal Horticultural Society of England, was founded by a group of civic minded New Yorkers led by Mrs. Hoffman. Under her leadership, the Club secured a lease on the Mansion from the City of New York and raised its $100,000 to begin house restoration and the addition of the formal gardens in 1914.