Page 44 - The Hunt - Spring/Summer 2023

Tribute:
Irénée du Pont Jr. in his prized 1918 Cadillac.
IRÉNÉE DU PONT JR.
BY JIM GRAHAM
From the time I was very young,
I can remember looking up from Smith’s Bridge as we traveled home and seeing a light burning in the house at the top of the far hill. On
the morning of Jan. 16, 2023, one of the brightest lights went out at that home near Centreville, Delaware. It had shone for 103 years.
Irénée du Pont Jr. was born in 1920 to Irénée and Irene Sophie du Pont. He was
the youngest of nine children and the
only boy. In 1921, his father acquired
more than 500 acres overlooking the Brandywine Valley. With former MIT classmate Albert H. Spahr, the senior du Pont designed the family home known as Granogue. The house overlooked Granogue Station on Henry A. du Pont’s railroad.
The new home on the hill was covered with Pennsylvania granite. The floors were reinforced concrete covered in teak;
walls were paneled in oak carved by the American Car and Foundry Company, and metal craftsman Samuel Yellin fabricated the iron hardware. There’s
a garage on the property that could accommodate 12 automobiles, while
the basement housed a chemical lab and milk-testing facility for the estate’s dairy operations. The matron of Granogue laid out the gardens with DuPont engineer Albert E. S. Hall. Now that du Pont
8 STEEPLECHASE LOOKBOOK 2023 | todaymediainc.com
JIM GRAHAM