"HICKORY HILL" THE SUMMER HOME OF ARCHITECT WILLIAM LAWRENCE BOTTOMLEY

July 25, 2014, 1:00 am

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A farmhouse that is an oldest inhabitant—250 years set lightly on its rugged frame

Dating back to 1680, the country home of William Lawrence Bottomley, architect, at Brookville is one of the oldest houses still standing on Long Island. Necessary remodeling has been so carefully carried out as to preserve all of its old-time charm. The wall shingles are gray and exterior trim is painted white.

    In 1924 William Lawrence Bottomley acquired "Hickory Hill" (c. 1680), in Old Brookville, New York, for use as his summer house. Bottomley carried out extensive restoration, renovation, and additions to the original saltbox structure, one of the oldest houses on Long Island. Roads, terraces, pools, and gardens were laid out, boxwood and borders planted, and the ancient trees pruned on the seven-acre property. The result was judged at the time as one of the most charming and dignified small country places in its section of America.   

Landscaping is decidedly informal, with Phlox, Iris, Peonies and flowering shrubs creating a typical old-fashioned garden before the house. Shading the front grass terrace are a huge Sugar Maple and a Silver Birch. A grape vine from a side arbor clambers across the face of the house at second story height.

A pear tree such as this provides beauty in the Spring, shade in Summer and fruit in the Fall.

Boxwood Garden, "Hickory Hill"

South Garden, "Hickory Hill"

Harriet(Townsend) and Lawrence "Larry" Bottomley enjoyed gardening together at "Hickory Hill". c. 1944

Above a powder blue dado, room walls are covered with an old French wall paper in which soft greens and blues predominate. The sofa is upholstered in blue silk. Under a valance board painted in blue and gold to resemble drapery, curtains are of white voile edged with old-fashioned cotton fringe.

A Seventeenth Century original

   Numerous paintings and etchings adorned the walls. In 1932 these works were destroyed in a fire that started in the cellar of the house and spread to the first floor. Little damage was done to the structure itself, but the loss of the artwork was estimated at $20,000.  The housed was being opened for the season with blame attributed to a faulty furnace. 

Huge fireplaces were characteristic of the Early American houses—such fireplaces as this one still surviving in the living room of William Lawrence Bottomlcy's Long Island home. The wood paneled fireplace wall is painted powder blue. The rug, in tan and blues, is decorated with the various signs of the zodiac—the Gemini twins being located in position to toast their little bare toes.

Mr. Bottomley's dining room has oyster white walls inset with old toile paper panels. Chairs are white with gold decorations. The huge antique sideboard displays a miscellaneous collection of old blue and white china and silver. The principal color notes of the room are red, blue and gold, usually on white.

In 1947, Bottomley added a barn to the property. 

William Lawrence Bottomley in his studio.

    "Hickory Hill" was leased for additional income in the 1940's. 

Hickory Hill" William Lawrence Bottomley, Architect

   Bottomley died on February 1, 1951 after a series of small strokes, with the sense that he had been typed as an eclectic, hence irrelevant in the modernist world of architecture. The Bottomley family sold the property in 1952. 

  "The great masters of painting, sculpture and architecture are remembered by their successes, not by their failures."William Lawrence Bottomley

   wikimapi LOCATION of "Hickory Hill".  BING.

   Before "moving on up" to the River House in New York City the Bottomley's  resided at a remolded brownstone. Follow THIS LINK to see "The House of the Hanging Kitchen".

   Mrs. Bottomley gave the scenic French wallpaper originally  in the  living-room to the Goodspeed Opera House in Essex, Connecticut.

Outside the Ladies Drinking Parlor at the Goodspeed Opera House is this wood-framed commemorative plaque

This Early 19th Century Wallpaper given in memory of William Lawrence Bottomley by his wife Harriet Townsend Bottomley

This Early 19th Century Wallpaper given in memory of William Lawrence Bottomley by his wife Harriet Townsend Bottomley

This Early 19th Century Wallpaper given in memory of William Lawrence Bottomley by his wife Harriet Townsend Bottomley

This Early 19th Century Wallpaper given in memory of William Lawrence Bottomley by his wife Harriet Townsend Bottomley

This Early 19th Century Wallpaper given in memory of William Lawrence Bottomley by his wife Harriet Townsend Bottomley

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AN octagonal house with four terraces - "La Folie Monvel"

July 28, 2014, 1:00 am

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   Bernard Boutet de Monvel, the distinguished French painter, wants to build a house in all the lovely places where he goes, because he hates hotels. It follows that it is now five houses; and the only reason he does not have more, he says, he does not travel enough ...

"LA FOLIE MONVEL" Treanor & Fatio, Architects

   In 1936 he came to Palm Beach for a month's rest. He enjoyed the winter climate so much that he decided to build a folie there. When he left "La Folie Monvel" was already under construction. Folie, a French term meaning "madness", describes eccentric or fantasy structures that were built mostly from the 16th to 18th centuries. 

   The artist solved his terrace requirements by having four. The south one is the entrance court, the north terrace is for a swimming pool, the east, completely surrounded by a high hedge, is for sunbathing, and the west is to enjoy the view over a nearby meadow of wild pink and white vinca major, and a golf course.  Modern Regency in feeling, with a central living-dining room and four small square rooms projecting out from it, from alternate sides of the central octagon. The space left between these projecting wings formed the four terraces.

Bernard Boutet de Monvel asked three things about this house to its architect, Mr. Maurice Fatio: a purely geometric plane (square, round or octagonal), complete privacy and a good northern light. He could not say why he wanted a geometric plane: he simply loved these figures. In any case, the result was this fun octagon that can be seen on the floor plan.

   He had stipulated, when he discussed his winter home in Palm Beach with the architect, Maurice Fatio, that he wanted privacy and a studio with a north light, and that he had a penchant for a house which would not be irregular in shape but a pure geometrical form. This last stipulation might have proved a cramping restriction to some architects, but inspired Mr. Fatio to create an ingenious octagonal house, most efficient for its purpose.

Terraces lay on three of the sides, with a driveway entry on the fourth, or southern, side.

The octangular pool at Bernard Boutet de Monvel's Palm Beach is 25 feet by 25 feet in size; 7 feet deep at the north side, and 4 feet 3 inches deep at the south side by the steps.

   The western terrace offered a view of the lake, and the northern terrace, the site of the swimming pool, looked on to the Palm Beach Country Club golf course.

Bernard wanted a house with privacy and plenty of northern light. Fatio achieved both by placing the house on Hi-Mount Road, the islands highest area. The house had four rectangular rooms—two bedrooms, bathroom, and kitchen—that projected from a central octagon that functioned as living room, dining room, studio.

A perfect intimacy was achieved by building the house on top of the only hill in Palm Beach. A terrace overlooks a lake, another golf course; and to the east terrace, a view has been open to the sea.

   The studio-dining room is an extraverted room in a most attractive way. It looks outside through three sets of glass doors under half round arches, one pair of doors onto each of the living terraces. The glass doors that lead into the little hallway to the kitchen and front door, and those that open into the dressing room, and bedrooms, have mirrored panes reflecting like windows. The interior treatment, with the wood flooring following the shape of the room and continuing in horizontal courses up the walls to merge with the lofty ceiling, has somewhat the quality of the cypress groves from which the wood came. The uncluttered simplicity of the interior, depending on this beautiful natural wood, the brilliant blue glass top for the central table, the light summery rattan furniture and the tree forms of my favorite palm, the fishtail, in tubs here and there, all contribute to the outdoor atmosphere. The plan and treatment should be stimulating to anyone considering a week-end or vacation house.

The interior of the house had natural-colored rattan furniture with dark blue upholstery. The walls and ceilings were completely covered in natural cypress, and the floor was oak laid in an octagonal pattern.

Light - a sine qua non of the artist - is provided by a huge window facing north in the large octagonal room, that balance a fireplace on the opposite wall.

The main room, octagonal - which combines a room and workshop - opens four smaller square and independent parts. Adjoining terraces complete construction on three sides, while the entrance is through the fourth side

Bernard Boutet de Monvel in Palm Beach before the portrait of WK Vanderbilt in 1937.

  Inspired by two pavilions designed by Louis Sue for the Paris Expo 1925.

Louis Sue and Andre Mare, Grand Salon, Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1925

  
   Bernard Boutet de Monvel was born in Paris in 1884, the son of Maurice de Monvel, a painter and etcher. A student of Luc Olivier Merson, Bernard attended the Ecole des Beaux Arts from 1908 to 1910. De Monvel was a talented portrait artist, but he was best known for his fashion illustrations in Vogue and Harper's Bazaar and as an illustrator of children's books. De Monvel died on the island of San Miguel in a plane crash in the Azores on 28 October 1949. He died in the same plane crash that killed the boxer Marcel Cerdan and the violinist Ginette Neveu. He had sold "La Folie Monvel" just months before, wanting to return to France after the war.

   A Harper's Bazaar article gives some insight into his thinking regarding his fondness for geometric shapes - "Bernard Boutet de Monvel's focus is to search among all tangled lines that blur the vision of ordinary people, just a few lines, a few essential lines: those that give the woman, animal or a home, both his personality and projecting its sculptural beauty." 

BERNARD BOUTET DE MONVEL Self-portrait with the Place Vendȏme in the background.

  

MRS. PAYNE WHITNEY

   Starting in 1926, de Monvel made yearly trips to the United States, where his society portraits were in much demand. De Monvel, elegant, charming, amusing and always beautifully dressed, attended the same dinners and balls as upper crust New York society, where he would easily attain new clients. The portrait above, of Mrs. Payne Whitney, cost upwards of $10,000, a staggering sum during the Depression.

MILLICENT ROGERS Millicent's mother had been a life-long patron, and de Monvel often painted generations of a family.

MRS. SAMUEL L. BARLOW Barlow was a society decorator under the professional name of Ernesta Beaux and was the wife of composer Samuel L. Barlow.

MR, WILLIAM K. VANDERBILT JR., 1936

ALEXANDRA FATIO Fatio and de Monvel made a unique agreement to cover the cost of the house's design: Fatio offered his plan in exchange for a portrait of his daughter.

   
    In 1990 the four wings were demolished and the octagon moved  to a corner of the property in order to build a new and larger house.

   BING - A better understanding of  the terrain(the highest hill in Palm Beach) can be found at Bing's Streetside view.

January 1938

OFFERED AT $1,250,000 "Rose Terrace" The Grossc Pointe Farms Residence of the Late Mrs. Horace E. Dodge

July 30, 2014, 1:00 am

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  The house was heated with oil boilers then thru a forced air system. There were grills in the floor underneath just about all the 42, French windows 14 foot high on the first floor. (The ceilings on the 1st floor were 18 feet high). There were no return grills in the house. Outside air was drawn in from grills outside near the South terrace and forced over steam radiators in the furnace room then sent to all the rooms. The positive pressure in the house forced the air up the 15 fireplaces to give a nice fire. Air was also forced out cracks or any openings in the windows to prevent cold air from coming in. One could stand near any of the windows and there would not be a draft. The house was not air conditioned. There was a 10,000 gallon oil tank under the front lawn to feed the furnace.

   When Hollywood wanted to film the Great Gatsby in 1974, they wanted to use Rose Terrace in the movie. At that time, the bank was still in control and denied the use of it. Hollywood then used "Rosecliff" in Newport, RI for the ballroom scene.

   The Developer who bought Rose Terrace wanted to make Condominiums out of it and add a few more buildings on the property. After a couple of years, economic conditions were not right and also not taking care of the building, (low or no heat, etc). the roof and walls leaked, and streaked the ceilings and walls, it was then decided to develop the property as single family homes. "Rose Terrace" was demolished in 1976.

"Danvers House" - The Finest Tudor House in America

August 4, 2014, 1:00 am

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   The name, "Danvers House", comes from the French D'an-vers, meaning House of Antwerp.

"DANVERS HOUSE" RESIDENCE OF MRS. W. C. VAN ANTWERP,  BURLINGAME, CALIF. BAKEWELL & BROWN, Architects

   

   THE Tudor style, in which this large house has been designed, is particularly well suited to the site which is an extensive natural park, situated on a gently sloping hillside which is partially covered with a fine growth of old oaks. In arranging the interior use has been made of a collection of interesting and valuable antiques which have been collected by Mr. Van Antwerp. In the three main living rooms, P. W. French & Co. of New York collaborated as decorators with the architects of the house, Bakewell & Brown of San Francisco. The Architectural Forum, 1922

"The finest Tudor house in America." "DANVERS HOUSE",  BURLINGAME, CALIF. RESIDENCE OF MRS. W. C. VAN ANTWERP BAKEWELL & BROWN, Architects

   

O make the best thing of its kind in the country—that is surely worth the doing. Connoisseurs say that Mrs. William Clarkson Van Antwerp's home in Burlingame, "Danvers House", is the finest Tudor house in America. Not only this, many people call it the most beautiful house in Burlingame, and that of itself is no mean distinction.

   These descriptions naturally include the contents as well as the frame. But to provide a house and an adequate setting for this remarkable collection of antiques, with no jarring note, is certainly an achievement.

   Bakewell and Brown are noted for the careful study they give their designs, their consistent and correct interpretation of the architectural alphabet. Of this the Van Antwerp house is a peculiarly successful example. The Tudor style is one of considerable latitude. It is a sort of clearing-house of the periods; it offered a cosmopolitan hospitality to Gothic and Renaissance, to continental influences as well as to indigenous sources of inspiration.

   But this broadness of the field, while it gives much freedom to a designer, also complicates his problems. Of course it would be easy to pick a detail here and motif there, throw them together into a conglomerate jumble and call it a Tudor house, "pointing with pride" to many precedents old England contains which display a fascinating and picturesque mixture of styles.

   To create a coherent design, however, whose varying elements, suggestive of different sources, are yet so welded together that the whole composition produces the effect of harmony, of unity—this comes not far short of being an architectural triumph, as it is assuredly an artistic joy.

"Nothing could be happier than this setting of fine oaks and gentle contours." "DANVERS HOUSE",  BURLINGAME, CALIF. RESIDENCE OF MRS. W. C. VAN ANTWERP BAKEWELL & BROWN, Architects

   Arguments as to the congruity of English architecture in California fortunately do not enter into this case at all. Nothing could be happier than this setting of fine oaks and gentle contours. Although the approaches and gardens are unfinished, indeed hardly more than indicated as yet, the house "belongs" to the site; it fits into its surroundings whether viewed from a distance or close at hand. That the landscaping will be carried out with the same loving care and thoroughness as the house and its equipment, is a foregone conclusion. And it will be a very pleasant occupation.

"The mass and sky-line are picturesque, but not confused." "DANVERS HOUSE",  BURLINGAME, CALIF. RESIDENCE OF MRS. W. C. VAN ANTWERP BAKEWELL & BROWN, Architects

   The exterior treatment is vigorous and coherent. The mass and sky-line are picturesque, but not confused; the composition ties well together. Rough stucco walls of a slightly varying warm ivory tone form a substantial foundation; the plaster in the panels above is of a generally deeper shade. The second story line forms a strong horizontal belt around the house, continued by the eaves of the wings.

   All exterior woodwork is oak, adzed by hand, studded with heavy wooden pegs and stained to a pleasant weathered brown.

"These sturdy walls uphold a splendid mass of roof." "DANVERS HOUSE",  BURLINGAME, CALIF. RESIDENCE OF MRS. W. C. VAN ANTWERP BAKEWELL & BROWN, Architects

"These sturdy walls uphold a splendid mass of roof." "DANVERS HOUSE",  BURLINGAME, CALIF. RESIDENCE OF MRS. W. C. VAN ANTWERP BAKEWELL & BROWN, Architects

   These sturdy walls uphold a splendid mass of roof. It would be hard to find a more interesting one, except for the picturesque touches that age brings. Thick slabs of slate, of varying sizes, of varying colors ranging through reds, grays, greens, blues; slightly waving outline of hip and ridge; irregular grading of courses, roughly curving slate valleys—such a roof makes one believe that the days of joy in craftsmanship are not past. It may be noted in passing, that there are one hundred and twenty six tons of slate here, requiring walls strong in fact as well as in appearance.

   Advantage has been taken of the slope of the site to emphasize this sturdiness on the lower, the entrance facade. This bold flight of steps from driveway to door is doubly successful; besides accenting the massiveness of foundation, it serves to shield the living quarters on the public side. This approach does not seem quite English; but thanks to the freedom of style, there appears nothing forced or inconsistent about it. In fact, one is inclined to hope that no large growth of vines will be allowed to soften the sheer vigor of the composition.

   The illustrations show details clearly enough to make further descriptions unnecessary. Mention, however, may be made of the interesting treatment of the brick chimneys, to which is due much of the charm of the general silhouette.

   The main rooms inside cannot be dealt with apart from their furnishing. As a matter of fact, the building was planned especially to house a very fine collection of antiques, and for bachelor's quarters. But such good judgment has been used in finish and equipment, that far from having a cheerless, museum atmosphere, the house is distinctly livable, with the air of a genuine home. A home, of course, such as many people dream of, but few attain.

GALLERY, RESIDENCE OF MRS. W. C. VAN ANTWERP, BURLINGAME, CALIFORNIA, BAKEWELL & BROWN,ARCHITECTS, FRENCH & CO., INTERIOR DECORATORS ***Note the stairs to the organ loft***

"The carved grotesques, musicians, choristers, jester, are conceived and executed with a deliciously broad and vigorous touch." "DANVERS HOUSE",  BURLINGAME, CALIF. RESIDENCE OF MRS. W. C. VAN ANTWERP BAKEWELL & BROWN, Architects

   

"The carved grotesques, musicians, choristers, jester, are conceived and executed with a deliciously broad and vigorous touch." "DANVERS HOUSE",  BURLINGAME, CALIF. RESIDENCE OF MRS. W. C. VAN ANTWERP BAKEWELL & BROWN, Architects

   A simple, low-ceiled entrance hall leads through a pointed stone arch into a screened gallery across the end of the Great Hall. Opposite the arch a narrow winding stair runs to the organ loft above. This screen, with its carved panels and figures, is extremely effective in contrast with the big simplicity of line and surface that prevails, relieved also by bay window and chimney-piece and the superb Barberini tapestry, which has only changed hands twice in seven hundred years, occupying the long inner wall. The carved grotesques, musicians, choristers, jester, are conceived and executed with a deliciously broad and vigorous touch.

***In 1625, King Louis XIII of France presented papal envoy Cardinal Francesco Barberini with a series of seven tapestries, designed by Peter Paul Rubens and woven in Paris, on the life of Constantine, the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. Upon returning to Rome, Cardinal Barberini established his own tapestry works and commissioned Pietro da Corona to design additional tapestries for the Constantine series.***

"Through the stained glass panels of the great window, gathered from England, France, Belgium, Italy, pour streams of gold and ruby and sapphire." DANVERS HOUSE",  BURLINGAME, CALIF. RESIDENCE OF MRS. W. C. VAN ANTWERP BAKEWELL & BROWN, Architects

   Most of the woodwork of the Great Hall was salvaged from an old English wreck, the "Duchess of Kent", and has an exquisite pink-silver-gray patina given by time and the salt sea sands. This has been duplicated remarkably well where necessary, in carving or trim; and the rough plaster blends in with a tone neither gray nor brown, an ideal background for the rich mellow colors of furniture and hangings. Through the stained glass panels of the great window, gathered from England, France, Belgium, Italy, pour streams of gold and ruby and sapphire. No gloomy antiquarian shrine this, but an apartment of exceeding charm, spacious enough for full appreciation of the treasures it contains.

"The height and spaciousness of the Great Hall." DANVERS HOUSE",  BURLINGAME, CALIF. RESIDENCE OF MRS. W. C. VAN ANTWERP BAKEWELL & BROWN, Architects

PERHAPS THE FINEST EXAMPLE IN AMERICA OF A HALL IN THE TUDOR STYLE. SILVERY WEATHERED GRAY WOODWORK AND TAWNY PLASTER CREATE A MELLOW ATMOSPHERIC BACKGROUND FOR A SPLENDID COLLECTION OF ANTIQUES IN THE RESIDENCE OF MRS. W. C. VAN ANTWERP, BURLINGAME, CALIFORNIA . DESIGNED BY FRENCH & COMPANY, UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF BAKEWELL AND BROWN, ARCHITECTS. EXECUTED BY A. QUANDT & SONS, PAINTERS AND DECORATORS

   Arresting the eye, and serving to accent the height and spaciousness of the Great Hall, there hangs near the window a model of the "Royal Harry", the ship which carried Henry the Eighth to the Field of the Cloth of Gold. The value of this one pendant ornament, informally placed, is extraordinary; more of the kind would be confusing, the lack of it might make the Great Hall too formal.

"The beauty and dignity of the Sixteenth Century marble mantel." DANVERS HOUSE",  BURLINGAME, CALIF. RESIDENCE OF MRS. W. C. VAN ANTWERP BAKEWELL & BROWN, Architects

"The beauty and dignity of the Sixteenth Century marble mantel." DANVERS HOUSE",  BURLINGAME, CALIF. RESIDENCE OF MRS. W. C. VAN ANTWERP BAKEWELL & BROWN, Architects

  The fireplace is usually the central motif of a room. That is hardly true in this case, for although each wall affords artistic delight —the screened gallery, the bay window, the chimney, the tapestry—still the compelling feature is unquestionably the window. The beauty and dignity of the Sixteenth Century marble mantel must not be underestimated, however. It once stood on exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum, with other objets d'art loaned by a celebrated private collector. The only change one could wish in the Great Hall, would be to omit the overmantel, thus emphasizing the proportions and importance of this delightful piece of carving.

"The dining room was brought intact from Spain." "DANVERS HOUSE",  BURLINGAME, CALIF. RESIDENCE OF MRS. W. C. VAN ANTWERP BAKEWELL & BROWN, Architects

DETAIL IN DINING ROOM"DANVERS HOUSE",  BURLINGAME, CALIF. RESIDENCE OF MRS. W. C. VAN ANTWERP BAKEWELL & BROWN, Architects

   

"bookcases are filled with historic treasures of incunabula and illuminated manuscripts.""DANVERS HOUSE",  BURLINGAME, CALIF. RESIDENCE OF MRS. W. C. VAN ANTWERP BAKEWELL & BROWN, Architects

   The dining room, a room ceiled with wood, was brought intact from Spain except for the hooded stone fireplace, and set up in place with a few necessary adjustments. A very pleasing grayish-brown finish blends well with the coloring of the Great Hall and gallery, of which fascinating glimpses appear through stone arched openings. The treatment of the library is somewhat similar; it is a charming room, whose surrounding bookcases are filled with historic treasures of incunabula and illuminated manuscripts. What of wall surface is exposed, is in this case a rough plaster, as in the Great Hall. Further tending to the simplicity desirable in such a room, ceiling beams are plain and mantel piece broad and flat; whereas in the dining room, the ceiling is stenciled with richly colored patterns, subdued to time's inimitable softness and warmth. Here is a fine setting for the rare collection of old English silver tankards and candelabra which the owner has gathered.

***This impressive collection including Dickens and Chaucer went up for auction in London in April 1922.***  

THE ITALIAN DOOR FROM LIVING ROOM TO LIBRARY "DANVERS HOUSE",  BURLINGAME, CALIF. RESIDENCE OF MRS. W. C. VAN ANTWERP BAKEWELL & BROWN, Architects

   The finish in these main rooms was put together, with incidental details, by P. W. French and Company of New York, who have shown remarkably good judgment and discrimination in co-operating with owner and architect to such an effect. Here there can be no uncertainty as to changing styles; this home will grow ever more satisfying as years go by.

First Floor Plan "DANVERS HOUSE",  BURLINGAME, CALIF. RESIDENCE OF MRS. W. C. VAN ANTWERP BAKEWELL & BROWN, Architects

Second Floor Plan "DANVERS HOUSE",  BURLINGAME, CALIF. RESIDENCE OF MRS. W. C. VAN ANTWERP BAKEWELL & BROWN, Architects

Originally the five-stall Carriage House servicing the mansion. Designed and built by Arthur Brown, Jr. the famous San Francisco architect who designed the landmark San Francisco City Hall.  Grounds designed by legendary landscape architect, Thomas Church. Transformed in 1971 to a residence.

William Clarkson Van Antwerp was head of the firm of Van Antwerp, Bishop & Co., and a member of the Board of Governors of the New  York  Stock Exchange. Charlotte Augusta Van Antwerp(Jones) and Reverend William  H. Van Antwerp of New York City were his parents.

Mr. Van Antwerp was for many years Chairman of the Committee on Publicity of the Exchange. He is the author of "The Stock Exchange from Within", a treatise on the intricate problems of the Exchange. William C. Van Antwerp was at one time one of the most active operators in Wall Street and was in charge(Partner) of the San Francisco office of E. F. Hutton & Co.  Mr. Van Antwerp sold his Stock Exchange seat following the deflation period of 1920-1921 and went to San Francisco.

 Involved in the Money Trust Investigation of 1913 and other ongoing congressional inquires, the word manipulator seems to fit Mr. Antwerp.

SOCIETY LEADER ENGAGED Miss Edith Chesebrough to Be Married to W. C. Van Antwerp, SAN FRANCISCO, Cal., Dec 15. (Special) Miss Edith Chesebrough, well-known society leader and woman golf champion of Northern California, will become the bride in the near future of William Clarkson Van Antwerp, wealthy New Yorker, formerly in the navy. ***Van Antwerp had resigned his chairmanship to help with the war efforts(Annapolis grad).***

The date of the wedding has not been set, but will not be far distant, according to friends of the couple, who said the ceremony would probably be performed as soon as a borne now building at Burlingame is completed. Miss Chesebrough is prominent in society sport circles, notably golf. She holds the golf championship of Northern California and not long ago played in Chicago against some of the best golfers in the country for the woman's championship of America.
 THE MORNING OREGONIAN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1920



The Chesebrough family held much land on Manhattan Island in the early days of the 20th century which became very valuable as the city grew.



 In 1934 Brown added onto the house, this time for Mr. and Mrs. (Helene)Paul Fagan. 

Helene was born in Hawaii in 1887(d. 1966), and her father, William G. Irwin made a large fortune in sugar. He owned the entire island of Lanai as well as commercial property in Honolulu and was part owner of the Second Bank of Hawaii with his sugar partner, Claus Spreckels, a German immigrant based in California. In 1909, Irwin sold his sugar interests and moved his wife and daughter to San Francisco so that Helene might meet a proper husband. She did, and when she married Templeton Crocker on February 2, 1911, her father gave her stocks and bonds valued at one million dollars and her mother gave her a new limousine.  

After Helene’s parents had died and she inherited another $13 million. The childless couple divorced in 1928.

She went East for a few months and there married Paul I. Fagan (1893-1960) in New York on March 15, 1929. He was a successful exporter and importer, and after a honeymoon in Europe, they bought the W.C. Van Antwerp home in Hillsborough.

Paul Fagan was owner of the San Francisco Seals baseball team of the Pacific Coast League. Fagan was, in many ways, an early-day George Steinbrenner, always embroiled in controversy.  Fagan casually mentioned he was going to ban husked peanuts and sell salted peanuts instead. "We lose five cents on every bag of peanuts sold in the ballpark," Fagan complained. "That's $20,000 a year. It costs us 7 1/2 cents to pick up the husks and our profit on a dime bag is just 2 1/2 cents. The goober has to go."

  In 1905 Bakewell & Brown founded what was to become one of San Francisco’s leading architectural firms and went on to design important California buildings including Berkeley City Hall (1908), Pasadena City Hall (1913), San Francisco City Hall (1915), Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco (1926), San Francisco’s Federal Office Building (1936), and various structures at Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley.

Both James Bakewell and Arthur Brown Jr. were proteges of Bernard Maybeck, an early instructor in architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, who convinced these two top students to attend his alma mater, the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, for a graduate education. Brown, once in Paris succeeded in winning more Beaux Arts architectural prizes than had ever been received by an American. According to legend, the school's authorities were so taken aback that they thereafter barred Americans from the competitions.

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"THE DOVECOTE"'of the Farm Group on the Thomas lnce Estate, Beverly Hills

August 8, 2014, 1:00 am

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"THE DOVECOTE"'of the Farm Group on the Thomas lnce Estate, Beverly Hills. Roy Seldon Price, Architect. The roof is random laid with Varicolored Granada tile made by Gladding, McBean & Company—Los Angeles Pressed Brick Company. Watercolor sketch by J. E. Stanton.

   
              Thomas H. Ince Estate, "Dias Dorados" - GOLDEN DAYS

   The famed motion picture director and studio mogul built his California Spanish Mission-style estate between 1923 and 1924. Constructed on 30 acres, the entire estate was designed by architect Roy Selden Price as a motion picture setting. Ince and Price turned the estate into a theatrical version of an old Mission-style mansion. The mammoth circular living room was decorated as a Mexican cantina with stone fireplace and a totem pole in the center of the room. The basement screening room was made into a romantic version of a pirate ship's deck. Another themed room had floors covered with sand and punctuated by cactus plants. There was an autograph room which contained many documents and pictures concerned with the early history of California. Mr. Ince's own suite boasted a complete Turkish bath establishment.  Additional  amenities included a shooting gallery and a scaled-down roller skating rink.  On the grounds were a trout pool, a bowling green, tennis courts and a swimming pool. 

   So that everything in the house would look very old, materials were weathered in various ways. The stucco on the house itself was painted with adobe mud, which was later washed off. The tiles and ironwork were made by Mexican workmen who used the most primitive methods.  The home was demolished in the late 1940's.

Follow THIS LINK for more on "Dias Dorados". 

The Gardens at "Black Point", Residence of H.H. Rogers

August 18, 2014, 1:00 am

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The Gardens at "Black Point", residence of H.H. Rogers

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"Stone House" AKA "Norman Hall" Watch Hill, Rhode Island

August 25, 2014, 1:00 am

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Watch Hill, Rhode Island came to prominence in the late 19th and early 20th century as an exclusive summer resort withwealthy families building sprawling Victorian-style "cottages" along the peninsula. Watch Hill is characterized by the New YorkTimes as a community with a strong sense of privacy and of discreetly used wealth, in contrast with the overpowering castles of the very rich in nearby Newport. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watch_Hill,_Rhode_Island

 

   "Stone House", later "Norman Hall", know locally as Lihme Castle. Mott B. Schidmt of New York, architect. 

   Originally built(1915-16) for William W. Lawrence, who died a month after its completion, whereupon the property was sold to C. Bai Lilme of Chicago. 

"NORMAN HALL" RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

    A large, rambling 2 1/2-story dwelling of coursed rock-face stone(quarried on site), built in the Norman Farmhouse style. The main block, with a tall hip-roof, has a long gable-roof wing running at an angle off one front corner.    A 1-story, cylindrical, conical-roof entrance tower is set off-center on the facade next to a 2-story, end-gable stair tower. A hip-roof pavilion with a recessed, arcaded porch in its base is attached to the side opposite that with the angled wing, and the rear facade has a shallow, end-gable pavilion and a tall  cylindrical, conical-roof tower at the junction of the main block and the angled wing.  The house is set on well-landscaped acreage with several Norman-style stone outbuildings.

FIRST FLOOR PLANS RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

   The tower entrance leads to a spacious Foyer with arched ceiling, travertine marble floor, and grand circular staircase with wrought-iron balustrade. Wrought-iron gates reveal a large Reception Room (23' x.30') with lovely paneled ceiling, brick tile floor, and massive fireplace. French doors open to the terrace, overlooking the beach and ocean. Additional French doors enter the banquet-sized Dining Room (16' x 23'), with random-width oak flooring and elaborate stone fireplace. The Library highlights an arched ceiling, oak floor, and intricate fireplace. French doors open to a Porch with graceful archways, framing glorious views overlooking the formal garden area and ocean. The Kitchen Complex includes a full-service Kitchen with 10-burner Garland range and a large Pantry with antique cabinetry. A Living/Dining Room, Laundry, and Linen Room adjoin.

SECOND FLOOR PLANS RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

    Surveying the beach and sparkling ocean, the extensive Master Suite features 2 Bedrooms, both with walk-in closets and private Baths, plus additional closets and a circular tower Sitting Room. Four spacious Guest Bedrooms with 3 Baths and a large Sleeping Porch (18' x 25') are provided. A separate Staff Wing offers 6 Bedrooms with a Bath.

VIEW FROM THE NORTH RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

NORTH ELEVATION RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

    Styled after a French chateau, the impressive 10,000-square-foot manor was built utilizing the finest materials. Behind its three-foot-thick rose granite walls, the spacious rooms are appointed with ornamental hand-wrought ironwork, handsome paneling, four elaborate fireplaces, and a grand circular stairway.

ENTRANCE FRONT RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

DETAIL OF ENTRANCE FRONT RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

SOUTH ELEVATION RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

OCEAN FRONT VIEW RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

WEST ELEVATION RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

EAST ELEVATION RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

EAST END VIEW RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

GENERAL VIEW OF OCEAN FRONT RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

GENERAL VIEW OF OCEAN FRONT RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

DETAIL OF OCEAN TERRACE RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

400 FEET OF OCEAN FRONTAGE RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

IRON GATE AT ENTRANCE VESTIBULE RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

STAIRCASE IN HALL RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

VIEW INTO LIVING HALL RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

LIVING HALL RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

LIVING ROOM RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

DINING ROOM RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

DINING ROOM RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

     "Norman Hall" was later occupied for a number of seasons in the 1950s and 1960s by the Charles W. Engelhard, Jr. family of "Cragwood", Far Hills, New Jersey.  

IMAGERY DATE: 1/23/2005 RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

   In 1965, the Lihmes sold the cottage to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Chambery for $110,000 as a retreat house. In 2008 the Order offered the property for sale, and in 2004, it became a private home again. Originally listed at $9.95 million, it sold at auction for $8,695 million. Public records show the property sold again in 2010 and 2012, both times for one dollar??? Perhaps a family transfer?

IMAGERY DATE: 2008 RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

IMAGERY DATE: 2008 RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

IMAGERY DATE: 2008 RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

IMAGERY DATE: 2008 RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

IMAGERY DATE: 9/15/2011 RESIDENCE OF C. BAI LIHME, ESQ., WATCH HILL. R. I. MOTT B. SCHMIDT, ARCHITECT

Christian Bai Lihme(1866-1946)

Christian Bai Lihme, a native of Denmark and a chemist, had become a naturalized U.S. citizen and, after marrying Olga Hegeler of Chicago, succeeded her father as president of the Matthissen & Hegeler Zinc Company  of LaSalle, Illinois. Born in 1866 in Aalborg, Denmark. After graduating, in 1888, from the University of Copenhagen, where he specialized in chemistry, he came to the United States and became the chief chemist of the Pennsylvania Lead Company of Pittsburgh, a position he held until 1893. He was a director of several banks and mining corporations, and was a member of the Metropolitan, River and Union League Clubs of New York.

In 1901, Mr. Lihme married the former Olga Hegeler, daughter of Edward C. Hegeler, a pioneer zinc smelter. The couple had four children: two daughters(Anita and Olga)and two sons(Harold d. 1964 and Edward). Celebrity came to Anita when she became a princess after marrying Prince Edward Joseph Lobkowicz of Vienna in 1925. Lobkowicz' father was Prince August Lobkowicz, the Privy Counselor and Lord Chamberlain to Emperor Franz Josef, and his mother, the former Countess Palermy of Bohemia, was a lady-in-waiting to the Austrian Court. The Lobkowicz family had an important library and art collection. Olga married into the Griscom family of Philadelphia.

The Lihmes lived in Chicago before moving to New York where they had an apartment at 280 Park Avenue, at the corner of 48th Street. Around 1927, the family moved into an opulent triplex apartment at 950 Fifth Avenue, on the northeast corner of 76th Street, that overlooked the green dome of Temple Beth-El directly across the street and Central Park. Designed by James E. R. Carpenter, who was arguably the foremost architect of luxury residential buildings in New York City at the time, the narrow Italian-Renaissance palazzo-style building was erected in 1926 and completed in January 1927. The finely detailed fourteen-story building originally had two full-floor simplexes, five two-floor duplexes, and servants' rooms at the penthouse. Today, the seven units are owned by some of the city's most notorious billionaire bachelors. Besides "Norman Hall" the Lihme familiy also maintained a winter home in Palm Beach, Fla.

950 Fifth Avenue at 72nd Street New York, NY 10021

 Following his retirement in 1921, Mr. Lihme began to buy fine paintings by such artists as Rubens, Corot, Rembrandt and others. An important acquisition was "Portrait of the Marchesa Lomellini," one of the seven famous van Dyck paintings that had hung for centuries in the Cattaneo Palace in Genoa, for which Lihme was reported to have paid $200,000. The four others are in the Frick and Widener collections and the two remaining are in the National Gallery in London. He also collected Flemish tapestries, costly porcelains and glassware. The Lomellini family was one of the twenty-eight noble families which ruled Genoa for centuries.  

Welte organ console; on far wall: van Dyck's "Portrait of the Marchesa Lomellini"

On the evening of June 26, 1927, the Lihme residence at 950 Fifth Avenue was vandalized by a doorman, a nightman and an elevator man who were resentful for not receiving a promised bonus from the building, of which Mr. Lihme was part owner. After drinking whiskey for two hours, the three Irishmen let themselves in to the Lihmes' apartment, which was vacant for the summer, where they found and consumed cakes and a baked ham, and bottles marked "Frontenac Export Ale"("Contains all the alcohol needed for long sea travel" the label read). The ham was eaten without the aid of cutlery, and when they had finished eating it one of them flung the bone through the glass panel of the pantry door. Over the next few hours the inebriated trio damaged objects worth $300,000 in the salon and dining room, including chandeliers, mirrors, lamps, vases, paintings, and the Welte-Mignon pipe organ. Several days later, an interior decorator from P. W. French & Co., who had been commissioned to remove some 16th century Flemish tapestries which Mr. Lihme was lending for an exhibition, discovered the damage and had the elevator man alert the police. After questioning, the stalwart doorman confessed to the crime and was ultimately sentenced to a prison term of one and one-half to three years. Although the irreparable damage was estimated to be between $30,00 and $50,000, "Mr. Lhime had insurance against theft, fire, weather, et al.,—but not against drunken lackeys." SOURCE

Anthony van Dyck - Portrait of Marquise Lomellini, with her children at prayer

C. Bai Lihme died on October 15, 1946, at his home at 950 Fifth Avenue after a long illness. He was 80 years old. Mrs. Olga Lihme died on November 9, 1956, of a heart attack at her home in Palm Beach, Fla., at the age of 79.  Anita Lihme Lobkowicz Watts Griscom died in 1976. Anita's son, Prince Edouard de Lobkowicz died in 2010. In 1984 grandson, Prince Edouard-Xavier Lobkowicz, was shot in the throat, weighed down with a giant iron bar and thrown into the River Seine southeast of Paris(assumed drug related). Olga Griscom died at age 53 in 1955.

Charles and Jane Engelhard and their four daughters.

    Charles W. Engelhard, Jr. was the chairman of Engelhard Minerals and Chemicals, Inc., a leading international trader of minerals and metals and the worlds largest producer of kaolin, a key element in the production of fine paper. 
   

Charles W.  Englehard 1965

    Because he dealt in precious metals, he was known as "the platinum king" and was thought to have inspired the title character in the James Bond novel Goldfinger by his friend Ian Fleming. 

Auric Goldfinger/GOLDFINGER/1964

   Engelhard was also a noted art collector and a sportsman who raised thoroughbreds at his stables in Aiken, South Carolina, and in England, at Newmarket; one of them, Nijinsky II, won the English Triple Crown. Shortly following Engelhard  death in 1971, in an article in the New York Times reporting on his successor at the Engelhard corporation, he was described as having "lived like an Indian rajah, moving majestically with his retinue among his houses and apartments in various parts of the world. He was best known to some people for his racing stable, but better known to others for his multimillion-dollar art collection." Mrs. Engelhard (Jane Brian Mannheimer Engelhard) played a major role in the arts. First enlisted by Jacqueline Kennedy, she was active in efforts to restore the White House over some four decades. She was also a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, whose Charles Engelhard Court was a gift of the Charles Engelhard Foundation, and of the Pierpont Morgan Library. The Engelhards eldest daughter, Annette, became Mrs. Oscar de la Renta and friend of Brooke Astor.

"Cragwood" was originally built for of Mr. and Mrs. Grafton Pyne.

March 3, 1971

BY PLACING HIS trust in gold, along with platinum and diamonds, Charles William Engelhard in twenty years ran an inheritance of $20 million into an industrial fortune of more than $250 million and became a power in the international financial and business community.

"CRAGWOOD" FAR HILLS, NEW JERSEY

   "The house, which was called "Cragwood", was beautiful to start with. There was an enormous living room with long windows overlooking a lake and Far Hills, miles away. Box gardens sloped down to a swimming pool, and there wasn't another house in sight. The size, smell, and beauty of it alt was really beyond imagining."  Sister: The Life of Legendary Interior Decorator Mrs. Henry Parish II

http://tdclassicist.blogspot.com/search?q=Cragwood

William W. Lawrence

Mr. Lawrence is a Pennsylvanian by birth and a NewYorker by adoption, a graduate of Princeton University, and his entire life has been spent in the paint and white lead industry. He founded W. W. Lawrence & Co. of Pittsburgh about twenty-five years ago, and until his removal to New York some six or seven years ago, formerly gave this business, in connection with the Sterling White Lead Company, his entire attention, He was one of the founders of the Pittsburgh Paint, Oil and Varnish Club, also its president for a number of years, and in 1892 was president of the National Paint, Oil and Varnish Association. He has always taken an active interest in these affairs and he is keenly interested in everything pertaining to the business. 

He was one of the founders of the Sterling White Lead Company and its vice president until it was disposed of to the National Lead Company, when he became treasurer of the latter. A few years later he was made vice president of the National Lead Company, so he is what might be termed a thorough white lead manufacturer, being acquainted with all the various details connected with the industry. 

He is quite a traveler and has been making annual trips to Europe. He is very much interested in art and is what might be termed an art connoisseur. He is a member of the University, Manhattan, City Lunch and various other city and country clubs too numerous to mention. He is a broad and liberal minded gentleman and it can be truthfully stated the right man in the right place. Paint, Oil and Drug Review 1910

"Castlewood " A Vast and Stately Building in the Georgian Style - Newport, Rhode Island

September 1, 2014, 1:00 am

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INDOORS and OUT 1906 S. W. R.

   Louis Bruguiere was the son of Josephine Frederikke Sather Bruguiere. It was her money that built "Castlewood".

Dominating the highest point of land at Coddington Point, this white-trimmed brick Neoclassical style villa was visible from all of southern Narragansett Bay. The interior featured high-style French reception rooms in Renaissance and Louis XV taste. AHAG1908 = Photo

  
   FAR-FAMED Newport, adorned as it is by many sumptuous homes, still offers to new comers plenty of undeveloped land. Back into the Rhode Island peninsula one may go to build and still be within easy automobile reach of all the gayeties of the summer village. And these hitherto undeveloped sites are not lacking in the glorious water views one associates with Newport; they have also a bit of rural charm.   Text - IAO1906

Birds Eye View of Newport circa 1878 - Golt & Hoy To save money, Josephine chose a site on the outskirts of the city, far from the fashionable districts. Bellevue Avenue is the first road from the bottom running longitudinally down the center of the map.  Coddington Point  and Sunset Hill are located at the top tight corner. "Fairholme" and the original "Breakers" are at the center bottom.

   Converting a formless pasture into a beautiful estate is an undertaking that has been carried out in two years on the land known as Sunset Hill overlooking the bay of Newport and the hillsides that partially enclose it. A few years ago Mrs. Emeile Bruguiere of California searched for a site upon which to build, and found none to equal this. Here she has reared her palace, for such it must be called, although in Newport all residences whether costing thousands or millions, are called " villas." Friends discouraged her selection of the spot, but her artistic eyes saw possibilities theirs could not; and now that stubble and wild brambles have given place to velvety lawns, ornamental trees and Italian gardens, her perspicacity has been proved.

   The rough pasture was ploughed as soon as it was purchased, and the sod allowed to decay with exposure. Roads were laid out and the entire fourteen or fifteen acres staked out in a systematic way to set the residence off to the best advantage. The lack of large trees, which had been a drawback to the site, was met at once. Beautiful specimens of larch, beech and maple — some with trunks fifteen inches in diameter — were selected in the neighboring country, taken up in winter with large balls of earth about their roots and planted at points which would preserve views for the house and yet provide an elegant setting. Vegetable gardens were started and flowers planted.  IAO1906

"Castlewood " A Vast and Stately Building in the Georgian Style

American Homes and Gardens 1908 Barr Ferree

T IS no new thing to build a palace on a vacant piece of ground—vacant in the sense of possessing no beauties of its own, vacant in its desolation, vacant in the sense of giving, as its most distinguished quality, a profound impression of unsuitableness for decorative treatment and for habitual use. There are many, and, now that they have been carried out, quite justifiable precedents for such procedure. Even in America examples of the complete transformation of site to meet the exigencies of new conditions are by no means rare; but it is not often that a site so unpromising at the outset as that chosen by Mr. Bruguiere for his villa "Castlewood", at Newport, has been selected for the erection of a vast house and all the appurtenances of a large country estate. The word large is, of course, used in a relative sense; for the Bruguiere property includes but fourteen or fifteen acres— not large literally, it is true, but quite spacious measured by the Newport standard. For Newport, while a city of great houses, gives but small space to many of the most sumptuous of them, and a property of fourteen or fifteen acres is, therefore, quite exceptional in point of size.

   This, however, is far from being the chief merit of "Castlewood". That originally the site possessed few natural advantages, save the outlook it afforded over the sea, has already been hinted. The knowledge of its previous condition is now immaterial. Where once were neglected and vacant fields are now spacious lawns, full-grown trees, and smiling gardens, while as the crown of the whole is the spacious and palatial dwelling that, in accordance with the local nomenclature, is designated a "villa". To the historian it may be a matter of some interest to know that the whole of this property is new—very new indeed—though the superb lawns and even the stately trees—brought here expressly for the beautification of the grounds—give no hint of recent origin. Very elaborate, and, it must be admitted, most costly, have been the works carried out here, although the result, even now at the beginning of its new growth, has fully justified every expenditure made.

   The house is, of course, the chief object of interest on the estate, which was created to give it an appropriate setting, and for no other purpose. It is a vast and stately building designed in the Georgian style by Mr. E. P. Whitman, architect, of Boston, and being placed on an eminence, and being quite isolated, having—for Newport—an individuality almost wholly its own. It is a rectangular structure, twice as long as it is wide, and with the longer front overlooking the sea. The dimensions are quite regal—one hundred and ten by fifty-four feet—and the opportunity thus presented to the architect to design a house at once stately and ornate has been availed of in a very handsome manner. The result is so fine that it must be a source of constant satisfaction to the owner and the designer.

   Stately and ornate are qualities not always the complement of the other. This is particularly true of the ornamental qualities of a design, which may be ornate in the most elaborate sense of the word, while the result may be anything but stately. The Georgian, fortunately, is a style that permits few liberties, and it is difficult, unless refinement of detail is neglected, to go astray in it. On the contrary, its own inherent qualities are so fine and good that stateliness may almost be considered as inseparable from it. In any event it affords fine opportunities for the designer who looks to the creation of ornateness and stateliness. And both these qualities are finely and very amply illustrated in Mr. Bruguiere's house.

   Long, strong, firm lines dominate the structure. It is almost a perfect rectangle, a slight extension of the service wing being quite subordinate to the main lines of the house. The bringing forward of the center of the entrance front is a thoroughly legitimate architectural device for breaking up the long lines of a facade, and the addition to the bulk of the house thus made is slight enough and is actually compensated for by the recessing of the center of the water front, where the opening thus created is filled with a stately colonnade.

   Symmetry and sobriety thus characterize this design as fundamentals; it is true one end has a covered porch, the other a one-story addition to the service rooms, as well as an enclosed service yard. These features, however, are subordinate to the real structure of the house itself, and in no way detract from the general symmetry of the design. AHAG1908

IAO1906 -The house is built of red brick and beautiful glazed terra cotta, nearly white in color, and is some 110 feet long by 54 feet wide. It is Georgian in style, and therein differs from other villas at Newport as it differs from them in its high and commanding isolation. In leaving the town and entering the country by way of Coddington Avenue or from boats on the Bay, it can be seen from afar, the embodiment of architectural dignity. AHAG1908

   The house is built of red brick, with details and trimmings in glazed terra cotta, so nearly white as to practically approximate that color. These materials imposed no difficulty in their use, for they fit quite naturally into the chosen style. Great square pilasters, deeply channeled, and with rich Corinthian capitals, stand at each angle; on the corners of the house, at the angles of the central projection, at the opening of the recess on the water front—pilasters of generous size, quite ample to perform their apparent task of buttressing the walls between them. They support the cornice, which is carried uninterruptedly around the building on them, and which is also of terra cotta, save the space technically known as the frieze, in which the red brick of the lower wall reappears. The whole is crowned by a fine balustrade, very beautifully proportioned to the structure it surmounts, in which brick piers, with terra cotta bases and cornices, alternate with terra cotta balusters.

   These features form the framework of the design, within which are disposed the walls and window openings. The windows in the first floor throughout the house are round arched, spacious windows, admitting ample light within, and strong, well marked features without. They are without side frames, but their sills rest on slightly recessed pieces of walls, built of plain brick; a string course, which is continued across the intervening space, serves as the base for the arch moldings, which extend beyond the main wall, as do the high and somewhat narrow keystones which rise above the crown of the arches. Above each keystone, and midway between the windows of the first and second floor, is a circular terra cotta relief. The windows of the second floor are rectangular, without external frames, but with sills supported on simple consoles. A third story is completely hidden within the cornice and balustrade. AHAG1908

The Entrance Facade  With Glazed Vestibule and Richly Wrought Marquise. IAO1906

   The entrance front is necessarily the more formal part of the house. In this great dwelling, standing in the midst of its own grounds, there is no need for fencing and enclosures, save for the service yard. The social side of the house— the gayer and more intimate—begins immediately on the left end, with a porch reaching from front to front. Its structure is similar to that of the entrance front—that is to say, channeled Roman Doric columns upholding an entablature which carries a balustrade. The porch is built completely of terra cotta save for the piers of the crowning balustrade, which are of brick. AHAG1908

The Water Front of "Castlewood" With its Stately Terrace reached from the Living-Room and commanding the Bay. IAO1906

   The water front is, of course, the "facade d'honneur". The treatment of the house wall is exactly identical with that of the other fronts, but the center, as has been stated, is occupied with a magnificent colonnade formed of great Corinthian columns and pilasters, rising the full height of the two stories. These form five bays, with windows in each of the two outer ones, but the central one, being occupied by the fireplace of the living-room within, is closed with brick. AHAG1908

IAO1906 - On the north side, facing the water, extends a terrace. It is accessible by means of graceful steps or from the French windows of the living room. Here the four hundred of Newport will pass to sip afternoon tea or promenade after a dance, and the lounger on antique benches can scan, under sun or moon, the Middle and West Passages of Narragansett Bay, Mt. Hope Bay in the distance, and in front of him the low bulwark of Conanicut Island. AHAG1908

    The whole of this front gives upon a terrace, very spacious in dimensions, very splendid in effect. The center projects into the grounds a considerable distance beyond the house wall, and flights of steps at the center and at the ends lead to the lawns below. Bay trees stand on the steps to the colonnade, and vases of gay blooming plants are disposed on the piers of the enclosing balustrade. Very beautiful it is here, with the shining waters of the bays below and in the distance; and very fine it is too, when my lady gives a tea, or her handsomely gowned guests seek respite here from the gay doings at the ball within. I have already used the word regal in referring to this house, and must do so again, and especially here; for behind and above one is its truly regal and quite superb facade; to the right and left and in front, the ample areas of the terrace; below is the beautiful new green grass; and beyond are the myriad delights, natural and human, that form so potent a part in the charm of Newport. Here, indeed, is a rare exterior, stately, ornate and splendid, a truly fitting background for the gayest sort of festivity and the most princely hospitality. AHAG1908

IAO1906 - The main entrance is on the south side and is protected by a wrought iron marquise of beautiful design hung from the walls by heavy chains. The vestibule is formed of wrought grill work, back of which is heavy plate glass. Both are confined within Doric columns which, surmounted by entablature and balustrade, form the central ornament of the facade.

   Such are the chief items of the exterior, but there still remain some important matters to be noted. The porch of the entrance front is a small rectangular structure applied to the main doorway. It is, in truth, an outer vestibule, its roof supported by Roman Doric channeled columns and its side and front enclosed within elaborate screens of wrought ironwork lined with plate glass. A marquise hangs before the porch, covering the steps and a portion of the driveway and fulfilling the function of a porte cochere. This porch constitutes the single ornamental feature of the entrance front. Mention should, however, be made of the wall enclosing the service yard which is placed to the right; it is divided into rather narrow bays by piers, each of which carries a ball above the crowning cornice. The bays on the front contain oval openings, with heavily blocked frames. AHAG1908

IAO1906 - From the vestibule the visitor enters a space, measuring 25 x 50 feet, known as " the grand hall".   This is the most costly room in the house. Eight Ionic columns of richly veined marble support a boldly panelled and ornamented ceiling. The walls are made of white cement and panelled by means of inlaid bands of verde antique marble. AHAG1908

   But although the terrace is, in a sense, the culmination of the house, there is much within to see of interest before its supreme attractiveness will be learned. AHAG1908

The grand staircase is of white Italian marble up to the base of a richly wrought balustrade in which garlands of roses and leaves, done by deft strokes in iron, intertwine between the architectural scrolls of a typical French design. The stairway is formed somewhat like a flying buttress, arching from floor to wall, so that persons can pass underneath it, and permitting music to be stationed here, hid by palms, during entertainments. IAO1906

A Landing of The Grand Stairway The Walls of White Plaster inlaid with Verde Antique Marble. IAO1906

   The main doorway leads directly into the grand hall without any vestibule save the glazed external porch. This is a superb and palatial apartment, whose superficial area is perhaps twenty-five by fifty feet. The ceiling, which is decorated with great boldness and vigor in relief, is upheld by four pairs of coupled columns of richly veined marble with Ionic capitals. These are arranged somewhat toward each end, leaving a free central space. Pilasters of similar design are applied to the adjoining walls opposite to them. The walls are of white plaster, with panels formed by narrow bands of verde antique marble, while the door frames are of the same rich material as the columns. The stairway is on the right, rising without the columns at that end. It is continued to a broad landing, and then turns to the right and left; the left arm alone rises to the second floor, but a somewhat symmetrical treatment is effected by continuing the right arm to the outer wall on that side. The lower part of the stairway is supported on half arches, giving a free space below, which is available for an orchestra on occasions of entertainment. The stairs are of white Italian marble, and the handrail is a fine example of French wrought iron work. AHAG1908

Adjoining the hall is the living-room, paneled high with quartered oak in the old English style, and with a vaulted ceiling. The dining-room and library are nearly equal in size and are reached by wide doorways free of thresholds, so that when thrown together a perfectly even floor is had for dancing. IAO1906

   The living-room immediately adjoins the hall and occupies the other half of the center of the house. The walls are paneled throughout in quartered oak. The spaces over the door openings are arched, to correspond with the form of the windows, the main doorway, for its greater size, being necessarily surmounted with an elliptical arch. Four great windows in the opposite wall open to the floor and give upon the terrace. In the center is the chimney fireplace, arranged in a structure that projects well into the room. The ceiling has the form of a low elliptical arch, and from it depend two rich bronze chandeliers.

   There are two rooms in the left wing: the library, which faces the entrance front, and the salon, which looks out upon the water. AHAG1908

The Library at "Castlewood". IAO1906 The panel over the mantel is cut away for the insertion of a portrait of Mrs. Bruguiere.

The Library Is Finished in French Walnut, Beautifully Carved and Paneled. AHAG1908

Bookcases, skilfully included in the architectural scheme, extend from floor to ceiling, and there is a stately fireplace giving cheer. IAO1906

   The library is paneled throughout in French walnut, with built-in bookcases. Both the shelves and the paneling form a part of a continuous design, the salient feature of which is the pilasters, erected on a plain dado, and arranged singly or in pairs as emphasis and situation require. All around the room, and still a part of the interior woodwork, is a carved frieze of rich scroll design. The fireplace is of Caen stone, lined with brick. The panel over the mantel is cut away for the insertion of a portrait of Mrs. Bruguiere; a festooned decoration is arranged above and around it. The ceiling is plain white plaster. AHAG1908

IAO1906 -The salon, leading out of living-room and library is designed in the style of Louis XVI. Mirrors form the walls to balance windows, and all of the decorative work is composed of roses modeled in plaster. The beautiful crystal chandelier, picked up abroad, seems to grow out of a mirror cleverly set in the center of the domed ceiling. AHAG1908

The Salon The Crystal Chandelier hung from a Mirror. IAO1906

   The salon is a beautiful apartment designed in the style of Louis XVI. The arches of the windows form the keynote of the design, for arches of less dimension are continued around the walls. Paneled piers support the frames and arches; the latter, however, are without molded frames, but are surrounded with garlands and bands of roses modeled in plaster. A similar floral treatment is given to the panels of the piers, which carry a cornice supported on small modillions. And everywhere, save where there are windows, are mirrors—mirrors in the arched openings on each side of the doorways; mirrors in similar openings on each side of the fireplace; a large mirror over the mantel shelf, and still smaller ones, rectangular in form, in the spaces between the larger panels. The ceiling is domed, with a mirror in the apex, from which descends a rich and beautiful crystal chandelier. It is a room brimful of light and gaiety, conceived in a very happy way and carried out in a thoroughly successful and charmingly playful manner. AHAG1908

The huge mantel, 16 feet high and 17 wide, of this material dominates the entire room by its contrast of color and carving in high relief. In the central panel are the arms of the family. IAO1906

IAO1906 - The ceiling is double vaulted; and at the junction of the two curves is a garland of fruit done in plaster, behind which are the electric fixtures. AHAG1908

The dining-room is paneled with solid mahogany finished dark but the door trims are of the rich buff marble from Siena. IAO1906

   The dining-room is on the opposite side of the house, and is larger than either the library or salon, but not so large as the two together; some space is needed here for the ample service requirements, which face the entrance front, the dining-room being on the sea front. The walls are paneled in solid mahogany in plain, simple, rectangular panels that rise to about the height of the doors. The door frames are of buff Siena marble and are quite monumental in character; the richness of their material offsetting, in a measure, the sobriety of their design.  At one end is the fireplace, incased within a chimney-piece of Siena marble, a vast and elaborately designed structure that quite dominates the room. The family arms fill the central panel. The ceiling is supported by a double cove. The lower one rises immediately above the summit of the paneling, and against it are finished the crowns of the door frames and the chimney-piece. A band of foliage, behind which are concealed the electric lights which illuminate the room, separates the lower cove from the upper one, which is smaller and merges immediately into the flat surface of the central ceiling. AHAG1908 
  

The Fireplace of a Boudoir  All of the bedrooms are very large, most of them being connected with private bathrooms. Some have adjoining sitting-rooms and boudoirs as well. The closets on this floor are immense in size, several being large enough to contain a single bed comfortably. IAO1906

   The main hall on the second floor is one hundred feet long and twelve feet wide and has Doric columns and pilasters its entire length, between which is paneling five feet high.

   In the basement are the kitchen, the servants' dining-room, scullery, ice chest room, laundry and drying-room, wine-rooms, gas plant and heating plant. On the third floor, hidden from the grounds by the balustrade on the roof, are the commodious servants' quarters and baths. As a whole,the house is extremely beautiful and convenient, a model for entertaining and a pleasure to look at, largely on account of its lack of "ginger-bread work". IAO1906

Incorporated into the gardens were the remnants of an eighteenth-century battery thought to have been erected by the Comte de Rochambeau.  AHAG1908

Plan de la ville, port, et rade de Newport, avec une partie de Rhode-Island occupée par l'armée française aux ordres de Mr. Le comte de Rochambeau, et de l'escadre française commandée - 1780

    A Louis XV-style paneled room was removed and incorporated into a contemporary French house on Ocean Avenue. Which room or Ocean Avenue house I do not know???

THIS LINK shows the house still standing in 1938.

Josephine Frederikke Sather Bruguiere

Josephine Frederikke Sather Bruguiere was born about 1843 to Pedar Sather and Sarah Thompson of Connecticut. Pedar Sather had been the founder of the first bank in San Francisco and was a very wealthy individual. She married Emile A. Bruguiere, a wealthy Frenchman. They had one son Louis Sather Bruguiere, born on April 6th 1882.

The Bruguiere's New York City Townhouse

    The wealthy couple lived luxuriously in a large townhouse in New York City and rented cottages in Newport. When Emile A. Bruguiere died, he left Josephine a small fortune of $1 million and he left Louis S. another $1 million. 

    Upon inheriting her fortune, Mrs. Bruguiere decided she wanted a cottage in Newport, RI, where she and her son could reside in the summers with the rest of society, so she turned to architect Edward Whitman. Whitman would be working with a somewhat restrained budget of $200,000, with $75,000 of that going toward furniture. To save money, Josephine chose a site on the outskirts of the city, far from the fashionable districts. While construction was underway on her $125,000 chateau, Mrs. Bruguiere and Louis traveled the world collecting furniture, paintings, artwork, tapestries and valuable objects to furnish the home, they ran over their $75,000 furniture budget by $20,000.

   The budget of "Castlewood" had run over by $75,000 making the total cost of the house $200,000 and another $95,000 for furniture. Nevertheless it didn't matter to Josephine, who could not manage her finances very well, and she moved in promptly after it was finished. She opened the house with a lavish ball, costing $50,000. Guests marveled at the beautiful interiors and decorative details. Whitman had designed the interiors and the floor plan of the first floor around entertaining. The first floor housed the main rooms and the upstairs held the bedrooms.

    Within 2 years of moving in Mrs. Bruguiere became deep in arrears with her Newport accounts. She was spending more than her annual income monthly and was constantly renovating her two homes. By 1913 all she had left was less than $150,000 and she was silently selling her husband's art collection and statuary off to raise money to pay the bills. Her bills were astronomical and included, $15,000 on taxes for her New York City residence and $38,000 on "Castlewood"'s taxes, she spent $30,000 on her yearly wardrobe, $25,000 for staff payments and to upkeep both of her home, $7,000 yearly for the yacht she was renting and almost $100,000 on the yearly renovations she did to both of her homes. Her son, trying to help, married the enormously wealthy widow, Margaret "Daisy" Post Van Alen, and tried to use her fortune to help his mother.

   In 1913,"Castlewood" was taken by the bank and they auctioned off it's contents for a total of $100,000. Josephine had attended the auction and had bought a few of her things, such as the tapestry that hung at the top of the staircase and the rug in the salon. Josephine sold her New York City townhouse and sold most of it's furniture for a total of $350,000. Since she also sold a small part of her jewelry collection for some $100,000, Josephine was able to retain her apartment in Paris, but cut her the original staff that had attended her at her three homes from 27 to 6. She moved into a suite of rooms at the Sherry Hotel and continued to live in Newport, renting various homes and their contents for the seasons. Mrs. Bruguiere only did this for 2 more years, because on August 19, 1915, while traveling back from Europe, Josephine and Louis were on the ocean line "The Arabic" when it was torpedoed and sank. The Bruguieres were in their first class suite when it happened. Louis was dressing when he felt it hit, he ran to the closet, grabbed the lifebelts and ran into his mother's room. He strapped it on to Josephine, who was having breakfast in bed, and threw a fur coat on her. He did the same with her french maid and then they rushed to the boat deck. When they reached the boat deck, it had been 4 minutes since Louis had rushed into his mother's room but they were too late, all the boats were gone.

Sinking of the S S Arabic

   Josephine began to go back to retrieve her jewels but Louis made her stay. They were finally thrown from the ship into the water. Josephine's maid was thrown to her grave because as soon as she hit the water she was sucked under. Louis and Josephine stayed together, with Louis carrying his mother on his back, but he lost her when she was sucked under. Louis survived but Josephine was never found. James Seidelman  Her body later washed ashore September 24th in Ireland.

   By the terms of her will, she left "Castlewood" to Louis, but it had been seized the year before.


   Arnold Watson Essex then purchased the house from the Savings Bank of Newport. He was reported to be "a man of large means who does not care for society", making its distant location from the hubbub of Newport ideal . Mrs. John H. Hanan, who occupied the house as late as 1918, was its final private owner. "Castlewood" was subsequently converted into an orphanage, The Mercy Home and School, and demolished by the U.S. Government for World War II public housing for workers of the Newport torpedo and naval ordinance factories.

"Fairholme" and "The Breakers". Where "Ochre Court" now stands was located "Edgewater", the J. Frederick Kenochan "villa". Said to be one of the most elaborately decorated houses on the Cliff Walk. Next to Kenochan is "Cave Cliff". Between would be built "Vinlind".

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METALWORK DESIGNED ESPECIALLY FOR "LA SELVA", the residence of Mr. Henry Sanderson at Oyster Bay, Long Island

September 17, 2014, 3:26 am

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    THE charming examples of metalwork depicted on this page were designed by Messrs. Edward F. Caldwell & Co., especially for "La Selva", the residence of Mr. Henry Sanderson at Oyster Bay, Long Island.

Not sure what these are?

Hangs to the right of the main door.

Somewhere in the Loggia.

Fire Screen. Was located in Dining Room.

Fireplace Andirons. Probably located in the Living Room. (Fireplace brick pattern matches)

Drapery rod over door, under the main stairs that led to outdoor terrace.

Door Knocker. Location?

Metal Scones. Somewhere in the main hall/corridor?

One of two fixtures that hung in the Living Room.

The only room I'm can fugue where this might be is the Morning or Breakfast Room based on the dark marble floor?

Follow THIS LINK for more on "La Selva".

THE "COPPER HOUSE" - Residence of Niels Poulson, Esq., Bay Ridge, N. Y.

September 22, 2014, 1:00 am

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The glint of the copper clad house looking north can be seen in this Shore Road postcard. At the right is the elaborate entrance to the William F. Kenny estate.

    

    A prominent feature of this issue is an article descriptive of what has lately been called in New York and vicinity the "copper" house. The name was given to it during the time it was in process of erection and is the compliment which the public pays to something unusual in building construction and ornamentation. The exterior embellishment of copper, however, is not the only striking feature about the building. The frame work, the manner in which the floors have been laid, the fire-proof construction and the method of heating, as well as other features, command attention. Our illustrations and description are sufficiently complete to give the reader a very clear idea of the appearance of the house, as well as a conception of the construction in all its various details. Carpentry and Building 1891

The entire exterior surface is covered with copper, the fact which gives the structure its name, the "copper house". Many of the panels are ornamented with designs of a unique character. Conspicuous features of ornamentation are four circular panels representing America, Europe, Asia and Africa, which are copied from the celebrated Albert Memorial. Each of these panels is 3 feet in diameter, there being two upon the front and two upon the side of the house.

   Niels Poulson made his reputation as one of Brooklyn's leading businessmen in the early part of the 20th century. As head of the Hecla Iron Works, he was responsible for the ornamental flourishes of such New York landmarks as Grand Central Station and the original Penn Station. At its height, the works would employ one thousand workers.  Poulson created an evening school for training ironworkers and is credited with raising the standard of iron construction in America. This public-spirited Scandinavian left a fortune, which today still funds scholarships and Danish cultural exhibitions. Source

Residence of Niels Poulson, Esq., Near Fort Hamilton, Long Island, N. Y. James M. Farnsworth, Architect.

   Poulson designed and built his family's home on Shore Road and the corner of 88th Street in Bay Ridge in 1890. It was famous as the "Copper House". It is believed to have been the first steel-framed private house in America, and was sheathed entirely in copper. The house garnered enormous publicity for its novelty and for the excellence of its construction, but none of that helped it from being demolished in 1930. Poulson died in 1911 at the age of sixty-eight in his Brooklyn home. His company hung on until just after World War I, by which time the great age of ornamental iron had come and gone. An Architectural Guidebook to Brooklyn

    

December, 1891

   THE HOUSE which we illustrate in our plate supplement and upon the following pages embodies features of construction and ornamentation which cannot fail to prove highly interesting not only to builders and architects, but to various craftsmen as well. What has been done in connection with this building might almost be said to mark a new era in both construction and ornamentation. The ornamentation is at least a departure from common practice, for while something of a similar nature in the way of decorative effects may have been attempted before, the expense been so great as to prove discouraging. In this case it is claimed the cost has been kept at a reasonable figure. We sum it all up when we say copper, brick and cement have been so happily combined as to produce a warm, dry and attractive dwelling, and one that commands the attention of all who visit it. The methods employed the ideas of the owner in an effort secure fire-proof construction and to make use of galvano-plastic metal in a way to produce striking effects. The work as it stands represents the result of long and careful study on the part of the owner, and in its execution many novel methods hare been employed.

Residence of Niels Poulson, Esq., Near Fort Hamilton, Long Island, N. Y. James M. Farnsworth, Architect.

   The house, which in the home of Niles Poulson of the architectural iron firm of Poulson& Eger of this city, stands upon the bluffs near Fort Hamilton, Long Island and commands a beautiful view of the Narrows, Staten Island, Fort Wadsworth and Hamilton and a broad expanse of water. The picture in the supplement plate represents the house as it appears from the street, which separates it from the edge of the bluffs. The drawings of the structure were prepared by Architect James M. Farnsworth of No. 5 Beekman Street, New York City, and were carried into effect under the personal supervision of that gentleman and the owner.

Residence of Niels Poulson, Esq., Near Fort Hamilton, Long Island, N. Y. James M. Farnsworth, Architect.

Residence of Niels Poulson, Esq., Near Fort Hamilton, Long Island, N. Y. James M. Farnsworth, Architect.

   The floor plans, which are shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the illustrations, indicate in a very clear and comprehensive manner the size and location of the various rooms upon the first and second floors of the dwelling. It will be seen that the main hall, octagonal in general shape, is entered through a vestibule from a broad veranda extending across the front and partially on two sides of the house. Opening from the main hall are the library, some 17 feet square, the parlor or drawing room, 21 feet square, and the dining room, which is 15 x 31 feet in size. The openings are covered by rich heavy portteres, and above each is a semicircular piece of wrought-iron work of graceful design. The stairway is at the left as one enters the hall and extends to the third story. A portion of the dining room is partitioned off into a breakfast room by folding doors carrying wrought-iron panels of beautiful design, made by Winslow Bros, of Chicago. At the extreme end of the house is the kitchen, from which the dining room is reached through the servants' hall and pantry. Beyond the dining room is a conservatory made of cast-iron rafters and supports, and covered with 3/8-inch glass. At one side and to the left of the conservatory is a hothouse. 

Fig.4.-Interior View of Conservatory.

    These are more clearly indicated in Figs. 3 and 4, which represent a side elevation of the house and an interior view of the conservatory. Upon the second floor of the dwelling are three sleeping rooms, billiard room, sewing room, bathroom and two servants' rooms. Opening out of the principal chamber is a bathroom and dressing room. The rooms of the house are finished with plaster applied directly to the brick walls, and then covered with paper of artistic shade and design.

The first impression given one upon entering the hall is the liberal use of metal and the peculiar formation of the floor and ceiling. The floor is finished with delicately tinted tile, so arranged as to constitute an elaborate design of striking effect.  The decorated cast iron ribs, arched across the ceiling, the bronze treated columns between the openings into the various apartments, the rich and elaborately decorated mantel, the wrought iron work in the semicircular archways, and the iron railing about the circular opening on the second floor, are a combination to produce an effect which is peculiarly striking.

Fig. 6-View in Main Hall, Showing Ceiling and Ornamental Railing About the Circular Opening at Second Story.

IRON   AND  COPPER   IN   HOUSE  CONSTRUCTION   AND  DECORATION - MAIN   HALL, SHOWING METAL CEILING AND WAINSCOTING.

"The Copper House"—Fig.7—Mantel and Grate in Main Hall, with View of Dining Room at the Right.

   One of the first things to impress the visitor upon entering the main hall, views of which are shown in Figs. 6 and 7, is the liberal use of metal work and the peculiar formation of the floor and ceiling. The floor finish is of delicately tinted tile so arranged as to constitute an elaborate design of striking effect. The decorated cast-iron ribs, arched across the ceiling, the bronze treated columns between the openings into the different rooms, the rich and elaborately decorated mantel, the wrought-iron work over the portteres, and the iron railing about the circular opening on the second floor, combine to produce an effect which is peculiarly striking. The ceiling of the main hall, as well as that of all the other rooms in the house, is of novel construction, and is of great interest to the building trades. It involves the use of ordinary flat bar iron and cement, and represents the ideas of the owner of the building as to what constitutes absolutely fire-proof construction. The plan pursued is such that the ceiling of one room is the basis of the floor of the apartment above. 

The "Copper' House.—Fig. 10.—Plan of Bar Iron Frame for Floor and Ceiling Construction.—Scale, 1/2 Inch to the Foot.

   The ceiling is made by placing upon the four brick walls of which a room is composed an octagonal frame made of angle iron. From each corner of the octagon are sprung two arches or ribs of flat bar iron, and where the bars cross each other they are clamped together with U-shaped bolts, all as shown in Fig. 10 of the illustrations. This arrangement leaves a small octagonal space in the center of the ceiling formed by the intersection of the bars already referred to. This space is covered by shorter bars, which are arched across from corner to corner of the central octagon, as indicated in Fig. 10. These are also clamped to the main bars by U-shaped bolts, thus forming a complete dome of wrought iron. The construction is such that any pressure from above only tends to make the construction more secure, the strain on the bars being taken up by the octagonal frame. After the latter has been put in place the four corner spaces and the triangular spaces between the bars are filled by domed panels of plaster of paris and cement, 1 inch thick. These panels were formed by means of an india rubber bag inflated with air and stretched on a frame a trifle larger than the size of the panel desired. This was then pressed from the underside up against the iron ribs, permitting the air of the cushion to form a perfect dome to the opening in which it was placed. Plaster of paris was then poured over this cushion and allowed to set. The bag or cushion was then used in the same way in connection with the other spaces until the ceiling was complete, giving a groined arched ceiling of strong and attractive construction, as seen in the case of the dining room. Fig. 8. 

Fig. 8.—View of Plain Ceiling in Dining Room. The library is handsomely fitted up with paneled seat and bookcases built in.

Fig. 11.—Section through Floor and Ceiling at A B, Fig. 14.—Scale, 1/2 Inch to the Foot.

After the under side of the ceiling was finished, what may be termed ribs of cement were built up on top of the flat iron bars, as shown in section in Fig. 11. These cement ribs were made by placing two boards parallel and filling in between them with cement and concrete. Before the cement,however, was put in, round wooden blocks slightly tapering were placed at intervals between the boards, so that when the cement was set, the boards removed and the round blocks taken out, there was left a series of openings in the cement ribs. These openings, or portholes, as they are called, are made use of in connection with the heating and ventilation of the house, and will be referred to later on. After the ribs were built , heavy wire was stretched over them from all sides of the room. These wires were designed to support a layer of wire cloth, upon which in turn was placed a layer of cement or concrete, 3 or 4 inches thick. Fig. 11 represents a cross section through the flooring and ceiling of a room, taken at A B of Fig. 14, the plaster of paris panels, concrete ribs and openings through them all being clearly indicated. 

Figs. 12 and 13.—Sections through C D and E F of Fig. 14.—Scale, 1/2 Inch to the Foot.

Figs. 12 and 13 represent sections through the floor and ceiling, being taken at C D and E F, respectively, of Fig. 14. H, instead of the cement floor, as used in this case, it should be desirable to employ wood, the sleepers could be embedded  in the cement, as indicated in Fig. 11, and the flooring nailed to them in the ordinary manner.

Fig.   14. —Showing Manner of Constructing Floor.—Scale, 3-16 Inch to the Foot.

   Fig. 14 shows the manner in which the wire is stretched across the concrete ribs, the position of the wire cloth for supporting the cement and a wooden flooring placed upon sleepers embedded in the cement. The little arrows indicate the direction of the hot air beneath the floor after it leaves the furnace pipe. 

"The Copper House"-Fig. 5.-Decorated Ceiling in Parlor.

   In some of the rooms of the house the ceiling is of an ornamental character, as, for example, that in the parlor, illustrated by Fig. 5. This is produced by placing on the under side of the flat iron bars forming the wrought-iron dome, moldings made or plaster of paris or papier mache, which are fastened by suitable hooks and cement. On these moldings rest the ornamental arched panels, which are made in plaster over an air cushion on which has been placed a gelatine cast of the ornamentation desired. After the panels are put in position the construction is the same as that employed in connection with the plain ceiling. The center of the ceiling of the various rooms in the house has a thickness to the level of the floor of the rooms above of 5 or 6 inches, while at the sides the thickness runs up to 18 and 20 inches.

Another very interesting feature in connection with this house is the method employed for the heating and ventilation, already alluded to. In the basement is a hot-air furnace provided with a coil, so that both hot air and steam can be used in warming the rooms. The air is taken in from the outside of the building and distributed to the floor of the various rooms by the ordinary method. The peculiar construction of the floor, with the portholes in each rib of concrete and cement, allows the hot air to pass from the furnace pipe through the various spaces formed by the plaster of paris panels, and thus circulate under the entire floor before entering the room through the register placed in the floor or side wall.

Fig. 15

The result is to make the cement floor a huge radiator, thus keeping the apartment at a comfortable temperature at all times. In the main rooms on all the floors are open grates or fireplaces of rich and artistic design, finished in electro bronze, brass, silver and nickel, and provided with blowers which may be folded up in such a way as to occupy very small space at the top of the grate opening. A view of the fireplace, with its wrought andirons, in the main hall, is shown in Fig. 7. These ventilating fire places are so made that fresh air is brought in from the outside of the house to a point behind the grate and then carried around the fire box and the three vertical cast-iron flues which convey to the chimney flue the products of combustion. Fig. 15 represents a plan and elevation of one of the fireplaces employed, while Fig. 16 is a vertical cross section, the arrows indicating the direction of the air currents. At intervals above the fire are perforated plates, which extend across the air flue in such a way as to retard the flow and cause the air to become highly heated before it enters the room through openings just over the mantel. Fig. 16 also gives an idea of the construction of the blower used and the manner in which it folds up out of the way. The house may be further heated by steam by the indirect plan. In the basement is a Gold's heater, consisting of a series of radiators surrounding a fire pot. These are contained in a brick chamber, in the upper portion of which are also suspended a number of radiators. The cold air is taken in from the outside of the house, circulates about the radiators, which are filled with hot water, and is distributed to the various rooms of the house in the usual manner. This serves to keep the house comfortable in mild weather. In case of very cold weather, when it is still desired to maintain a warm temperature in the house, the fire in the furnace is increased and steam generated in the coil already mentioned. The steam is carried to radiating coils placed in recesses just below some of the windows, the spaces being indicated in the sectional elevation, Fig. 9. In this way it is possible, as we are informed, to readily raise the temperature in the house as may be desired.

Fig. 16

Externally the house is very attractive and involves features of construction which are also novel. The entire exterior surface is covered with copper, the fact which gives the structure its name, the "copper house." Many of the panels are ornamented with designs of a unique character. Conspicuous features of ornamentation are four circular panels representing America, Europe, Asia and Africa, which are copied from the celebrated Albert Memorial. Each of these panels is 3 feet in diameter, there being two upon the front and two upon the side of the house. Three of these panels are quite clearly indicated in the picture forming our supplement plate. The entire copper work was done by what is known as the galvano-plastic process, which permits of the execution of the most intricate designs. Some idea of the results obtained by this method may be gathered from an inspection of the supplement plate and also of Fig. 9, which shows sectional elevations. The design to be obtained is first produced in wax by a very simple method, and the mold thus formed is placed in a battery. The frieze extending entirely around the house, between the first and second stories, was made in this way in lengths of some 12 feet, and fastened to the angle-iron frame by means of flanges and rivets.

Fig. 9

It may be interesting in this connection to describe the manner in which the exterior walls of the house are constructed. In the first place, the foundation was prepared in the usual manner, and topped with a stone belt course extending entirely around the house. Upon this was erected a wrought-iron skeleton, made of tee and angle irons placed some 4 or 5 feet apart. At proper intervals from the belt course to the main cornice were placed 4x4 angle irons, which were secured to the upright framing. At each sill and lintel course was placed a horizontal angle iron, extending entirely around the building, and above the window sill was another for receiving the floor construction, all as indicated in the sectional elevation, Fig. 9. The angle irons were covered with pilasters made of deposited copper, embellished with designs of an attractive character. The pilasters were first riveted to the angle irons in such a way as to leave at each edge a flange, to which were riveted the copper panels carrying ornamental designs in bas relief. 

Fig. 9

Two of these panels are represented in the lower portion of Fig. 9. After the copper panels were put in position the entire copper work was backed up with an 8-inch brick wall, extending from the foundation to the roof. The latter is covered with red tile, and the tower, which is covered with the same material, terminates in a copper finial. The roof of the veranda, extending across a portion of the front and side, is supported by cast-iron columns, while the balcony, partially encircling the tower, is made of cast iron, and heavily plated with copper so as to withstand the action of the weather.

Apart from the method of constructing the skeleton of this building, it is one of the most interesting in America and has acquired a world-wide reputation through the accounts of it, incomplete and generally inaccurate, that have been published in the technical journals of many countries. As yet, a complete and reliable description of the building has not been published. About all that we know about it is that the outer walls are of eight-inch brickwork, sheathed on the outside with sheets of copper whose surface is diapered, stippled or decorated with wavy lines in such slight relief as to merely give a texture to the surface. These sheathing-sheets are produced by a galvanoplastic process, the copper being deposited upon the mould in an ordinary bath of large size. In the same way all the decorative panels, window and door finish and cornices have been prepared. The copper-work is all riveted together, not brazed, proper allowance being made for expansion and contraction. Upon the inside, the outer walls are plastered directly upon the brickwork, so that there is no air-space of any kind in the substance of the wall. This course was adopted with some misgivings, as it appeared uncertain how such a wall would behave in the matter of condensation of atmospheric moisture within the house and the transmission of heat and cold. Careful observation during two years has demonstrated that there is no ill-effect from condensation and that the temperature of the house, at all seasons, is remarkably equable. With such absolutely solid and impervious walls the housekeeper in this house is relieved from waging constant war upon vermin, big and little, and Mr. Poulson feels entirely satisfied that he has achieved a domestic as well as a constructive success.

   Niels Poulson was born at Horsens, Denmark, February 27, 1843. He was educated at the Technical Institute at Copenhagen, Denmark, and immediately after graduation from this institution entered upon a business career. Before definitely determining upon the sphere in which he would actively pursue his labors he decided that the United States offered him a wider field than his native country for gaining the just reward of honest endeavor. At an early age therefore he came to this country and was soon industriously engaged in his chosen profession.

   For two years he was a draftsman in the office of the supervising architect at Washington, but feeling that commercial life was better suited to him than the government service he resigned and for the next seven years he was connected with the Architectural Iron Works, of Brooklyn, N. Y., as head draftsman. Still he was not satisfied nor contented in the position of an employee, even though his remuneration was high and his employers greatly pleased with his work. In 1876, therefore, he determined to start in business for himself and persuading Mr. Eger to join him, he founded the firm of Poulson and Eger. Under Mr. Poulson's able management the business of the firm inside of a few years had grown to such an enormous extent that it was decided to change the firm to a corporation, and in 1897 Poulson and Eger was incorporated under the name of Hecla Iron Works, Mr. Poulson becoming president and director. Since that time Mr. Poulson's every effort has been directed toward building up and advancing the interests of his company, and the increasingly favorable annual reports of the business transacted bespeak eloquently of the wonderful success he has attained.

   Mr. Poulson has a beautiful residence in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn and has always exhibited a praiseworthy public spirit in promoting the welfare of his community. He is a member of the Bay Ridge Citizens Association, the Brooklyn League, the Brooklyn Club and the Crescent Athletic Club; he belongs to the Manufacturers' Association; and is also secretary of the Architectural Iron Manufacturers' Association. THE AMERICANA: A Universal Reference Library COMPRISING THE  ARTS  AND SCIENCES, LITERATURE, HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, GEOGRAPHY, COMMERCE, ETC., OF THE WORLD, 1911

Poulson died in 1911 at the age of sixty-eight in his Brooklyn home. His company hung on until just after World War I, by which time the great age of ornamental iron had come and gone. The expansive gardens and house of William F. Kenny can be seen at the bottom.

The "copper" house garnered enormous publicity for its novelty and for the excellence of its construction, but none of that helped it from being demolished in 1930.

   
   Built in 1936, this mid-rise elevator building is 6 stories tall and contains 138 apartments.

THE COLONNADES, located in a highly exclusive, residential section, overlooking New York Harbor and the Atlantic Ocean, presents the finest in a new and distinctive treatment of Roman-Grecian architecture. Suites from two to eight rooms with one to three baths are available with every apartment facing streets.

The Colonnades assures permanent light, air and shore view, due to the fact that the building is surrounded on all sides by street frontage and overlooks the spacious Garden-Court. The scene, viewed from the apartments, presents a picture of unlimited expanse of ocean merging with sky.

8801 Shore Road Bay Ridge, N. Y.

  

    Named for an active volcano in Iceland, Hecla Iron Works supplied ornamental work for the exteriors and interiors of many designated New York City Landmarks.

Constructed in 1896-97, the Hecla Iron Works building was built to serve as the company's headquarters and showroom, in addition to being a school to train metalworkers and a design studio.

During the 1880's, Hecla pioneered the use of various technologies, most notably the Bower-Barff process, which was used to treat the iron. In contrast to most cast-iron facades, which were painted to resemble stone and prevent corrosion, the panels were exposed to super-heated steam that converts rust to magnetite, creating an unusual black, velvety surface that is unaffected by moisture.

In 1913, Hecla merged with the Winslow Brothers of Chicago, a rival firm. The building itself is an early forerunner of Modernist architecture. The building's façade is a clear predecessor to the modern curtain wall.

   Poulson left the ownership of the building to the American-Scandinavian Foundation, which sold the building to the Carl H. Schultz Mineral Water Company, a division of the American Beverage Company, in 1928. In 1989, the upper floors of the building were converted to residential space. Once leases expire plans are to convert building into a hotel.
     

Crescent Athletic Club Boathouse - 1907 The swanky Crescent Athletic Club built a clubhouse and fine boathouse on the shore, and the gently curving road and its footpaths became a promenade for nature and people watching.

    IN THE GILDED AGE, the leisured class came here for summer sports and bay breezes at resorts like the Crescent Athletic Club. Prosperous industrialists and businessmen seeking refuge from the summer heat flocked to Bay Ridge and built elaborate summer villas on the bluffs along Shore Road overlooking New York Bay.  For the owners of the grand estates facing the water, the bay offered its beauty and a place for them to moor their yachts and pleasure boats.   

  

In 1891 the Justice Holmes Van Brunt of the New York State Supreme Court home became a lavish clubhouse for the Crescent Athletic Club. The grounds were enlarged and improved in stages through the 1890s. The old Van Brunt homestead, greatly modified, served as a clubhouse. In 1897, a nine hole golf course was added, and in 1898 this was expanded to eighteen holes. The Crescents, wealthy sports lovers with money to spend, had created arguably the most beautiful playing fields ever seen in Brooklyn.

The Crescent Athletic Club opened in 1892. Located at Eighty-Third Street, it hosted the second Davis Cup match, attended by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1902.  Crescent Athletic Club - 1924

   William F. Kenny was born in Manhattan in 1868. His childhood best friend was Alfred E. Smith, who would later become the four term Governor of NY, and become the first Catholic to run for president of the United States.

    President of the W. E. Kenny Contracting Company. He was one of the chief contractors for New York Edison, Brooklyn Edison and the Consolidated Gas Company of New York. His fortune was estimated at $30 million, in first quarter 20th century money.

   William Kenny was a proud and generous supporter of Al Smith. He was the owner of the “Tiger Room” where Tammany Hall politicians and friends hung out. When Smith ran for president in 1928, Kenny gave $125,000 to the campaign, the highest single amount given to a candidate at that time.

Kenny bought a prime piece of property on Shore Road and 91st Street and had this palatial Mediterranean style house built around 1910 to 1911. He and his family lived here for a little more than ten years.

   Kenny had a magnificent Odell pipe organ installed in the grand foyer in 1912. The organ had a mahogany case and the display pipes were gilded in pure gold leaf. In 1917, the organ was upgraded with a new electrical system, and more mahogany casework was added, and more pipes gilded. The organ was also retrofitted with new ivory and ebony keys. The entire upgrade cost almost $11,000, making the pipe organ more expensive than many of Bay Ridge’s other housing.The Kenny’s had seven children; three sons and four daughters. Alice, one of the daughters, married European aristocracy in 1923- the probably impoverished Count Francis Bacon Kuhn de Prorok. That marriage later ended in divorce.

Italian Sunken Garden

The Kenny house on became the Shore Road Hospital, a private hospital servicing the Bay Ridge area. Although it was a full service hospital, it specialized in maternity care. Thousands of Brooklynites were born there during its long run. E. Belcher Hyde Map Co. Inc., 1929

The entire hospital complex was torn down for a huge senior apartment complex called Shore Hill Apartments in 1977. 9000 Shore Road.

An earlier Kenny mansion located at Oliver and Shore Road. Used as the Shore Road Academy after Kenny moved up the street until 1946 when property was sold and developed.

    This large Mediterranean villa was built in 1890 for former three-term mayor of Cleveland, Ohio named Tom L. Johnson. He controlled street car lines in several Midwestern cities. Five years later railroad magnate and noted gourmand “Diamond” Jim Brady purchased this bayside manor on Shore Road for his girlfriend, entertainer Lillian Russell, in the 1890's.  It became Fontbonne Hall, a Catholic high school for girls, in 1937.

The house, 9901 Shore Road, is the only mansion from the Shore Road’s Gilded Age to survive.

   Henry Cruse Murphy, the mayor of Brooklyn when it was its own city, and later a state senator, kept a big estate at Bay Ridge’s northwest corner. As Senator, Murphy drafted the bill which authorized the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, and in 1866 he signed the bill at his mansion. He also founded The Brooklyn Eagle newspaper.

Henry C. Murphy villa, overlooking the Narrows, Bay Ridge.

When Murphy died in 1882, the house passed on to another powerful man who made a great impact on New York, and the world. His name was Eliphalet William Bliss.

Bliss refurbished the mansion and built a horse stable and observatory tower from which one could view the bay.  1924

This wealthy manufacturer made his fortune by introducing and implementing techniques of mass production to the pressed metal industry.

Photo taken in 1915, reflects changes made after modifications.

   

Original design for Owl’s Head Stables, by Parfitt Brothers

   He spent $75,000 on a lavish and huge stable, designed by the Parfitt Brothers, one of Brooklyn’s finest architectural firms. The huge Romanesque Revival building had an arched entryway, three stories, a clock tower and multiple turrets, and was made of ashlar cut stone.

Observatory Tower.  1915

Bliss, offered the land, stables, house and observation tower to the city, and through Robert Moses’ initiative in the 1930's it became the 24-acre Owl’s Head Park.

His will stipulated that the estate must be used for parkland, and couldn't be developed. 1934

The original gates of the Bliss estate were found in storage, and returned to the entrance of the park. Though Mr. Bliss’s buildings were torn down his initials remain on the gates.

The Howard E. and Jessie Jones House, nicknamed the Gingerbread House by local residents, is a landmarked stone building with a pseudo-thatched roof on Narrows Avenue and 83rd Street. Built in 1916-17 in the Arts and Crafts style rarely seen in New York City, the house offers a glimpse of the fanciful summer cottages that filled Bay Ridge during those years. 

http://hookedonhouses.net/2013/06/03/a-house-for-hobbits-and-fairytale-characters-in-new-york/

  Architect James Mace Farnsworth began his career around 1872 and worked as a draftsman with Calvert Vaux by 1873. Farnsworth practiced independently from 1883 to 1897, producing numerous designs for commercial and office buildings and warehouses for prominent builder-developer John Pettit.

The firm of Silliman & Farnsworth, architects of the Temple Court Building, practiced from 1876 to 1882.

  

http://thebeekman.com/

The Kinney Building was completed in 1904, an Italian Renaissance design by Clinton & Russell the penthouse was added in 1925 by Kenny for his friend, Gov. Al Smith, to use as a political clubhouse. 

The Tiger Room was on the top floor of the Kenny Building. In honor of the old Tammany Hall symbol, Kenny had the place filled with tigers: stuffed, bronzed and whatever else his decorator could find.  Photographs of old Tammany Hall bosses lined the walls. A bar and grill, shower, baths, and a barber shop were always available. Regardless of Prohibition, drinks were poured freely and a poker game was usually on tap. A stage ran across one end of the room and Kenny had Broadway performers and all-girl revues up for performances.

In 1926, on the roof of an office building at 23rd Street and Park Avenue South, millionaire contractor Bill Kenny—childhood friend and major backer of Governor Al Smith—built the Tiger Room, a private clubhouse retreat. Named for the “Tammany Tigers,” the lavish penthouse featured a huge fireplace, tiger skins, brass tigers, and tiger paintings. Entertainment was provided by Al Jolson, Will Rogers, and, on one occasion, the entire cast of The Ziegfeld Follies. But politics dominated. “You couldn’t no more get up to that Tiger Room than you could get into heaven, unless you were a damn good contributor,” producer Eddie Dowling once said. The modeling firm IMG, which represents the likes of Heidi Klum and Gisele Bundchen, now has penthouse offices here.

View of Main House, Crescent Athletic Club on Long Island Huntington, New York. Huntington Crescent Club

The Crescent Athletic Club merged with the another local club and moved to an even larger home - over 500 acres - in Huntington, Long Island in 1931. This put a considerable financial strain on the club, and the Bay Ridge property was sold off in 1936. The final piece was transformed in 1940 and 1941 when Fort Hamilton High was built. 

Crescent Athletic Club House 129 Pierrepont Street Brooklyn Heights

The Crescent Athletic Club was one of the most successful New York sporting clubs of the late 19th/early 20th centuries. Organized in 1884, the club rapidly grew to 1,500 members by 1902, at which time it was decided to build a new clubhouse. Brooklyn architect Frank Freeman was commissioned to design the building, which was completed in 1906. Known today as The Bosworth Building of Saint Ann's School.

William Winslow House - Frank Llyod Wright’s first independent commission after leaving Louis Sullivan’s architectural firm. He built it when he was just 26.

  William Winslow was raised in Brooklyn and in 1883 at 26 became partner of the Hecla Iron Works. In 1885, when an opportunity arose, he moved to Chicago eventually forming with brother Francis the Winslow Brothers Company of Chicago.

   Winslow executed intricate designs for Louis Sullivan and other designers of the "Chicago School" that emerged at the end of the 19th century, filling the blank slate left by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.  An outstanding example of such work is the corner turret grille of Sullivan's Carson, Pierie, Scott and Company Building.

1 South State Street, Chicago, Ill.

"UNDERCLIFF" HOUSE OF CHARLES HEAD, ESQ., MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA

September 30, 2014, 1:00 pm

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    The Charles Heads'"Undercliff", designed by Herbert D. Hale in 1900, was so called because the formal garden was cut into the rocky cliff. The garden, laid out by landscape architect Maratha Brookes Hutcheson, was considered her best work. In 1910 the house was sold to Dr. James Henry Lancashire, who renamed it "Graftonwood". 

"UNDERCLIFF"                                                                         SITE PLAN HOUSE OF CHARLES HEAD, ESQ., MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA.                    HERBERT D. HALE, ARCHITECT.

OCEAN FRONT HOUSE OF CHARLES HEAD, ESQ., MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA.                    HERBERT D. HALE, ARCHITECT.

SUNROOM, OVERLOOKING OCEAN. HOUSE OF CHARLES HEAD, ESQ., MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA.                    HERBERT D. HALE, ARCHITECT.

ENTRANCE FACADE, AXIS E  HOUSE OF CHARLES HEAD, ESQ., MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA.                    HERBERT D. HALE, ARCHITECT.

"UNDERCLIFF" THE FORECOURT, PLANTED MAINLY WITH RHODODENDRONS AND THORNS THE HOUSE IS REACHED THROUGH THE NATURAL WOODED DRIVEWAY; ON THE OTHER SIDE LIES THE SEA. AXIS E

AXIS E HOUSE OF CHARLES HEAD, ESQ., MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA.                    HERBERT D. HALE, ARCHITECT.

TERRACE, OVERLOOKING OCEAN HOUSE OF CHARLES HEAD, ESQ., MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA.                    HERBERT D. HALE, ARCHITECT.

WEST SIDE, LOOKING EAST. HOUSE OF CHARLES HEAD, ESQ., MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA.                    HERBERT D. HALE, ARCHITECT.

"UNDERCLIFF" LOOKING STRAIGHT OUT TO SEA FROM ITS WOODLAND SETTING. SEE AXIS C. "UNDERCLIFF" THE WALLED TERMINATION OF THE TERRACE, TREATED WITH ESPALIER FRUIT AND A CLOSED-DOOR GATEWAY.

WEST SIDE, LOOKING TOWARD SEA.  HOUSE OF CHARLES HEAD, ESQ., MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA.                    HERBERT D. HALE, ARCHITECT.

"UNDERCLIFF" THE HOUSE, TERRACE AND THE SEA BROUGHT TOGETHER BY CAREFUL ELIMINATION OF MANY TREES. LEAVING JUST ENOUGH FOREGROUND TO GIVE THE PROPER BALANCE AND COMPOSITION. SEE AXIS B

THE STAIR HALL HOUSE OF CHARLES HEAD, ESQ., MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA.                    HERBERT D. HALE, ARCHITECT.

THE DRAWING ROOM HOUSE OF CHARLES HEAD, ESQ., MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA.                    HERBERT D. HALE, ARCHITECT.

THE LIVING ROOM HOUSE OF CHARLES HEAD, ESQ., MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA.                    HERBERT D. HALE, ARCHITECT.

THE LIVING ROOM HOUSE OF CHARLES HEAD, ESQ., MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA.                    HERBERT D. HALE, ARCHITECT.

THE LIVING ROOM HOUSE OF CHARLES HEAD, ESQ., MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA.                    HERBERT D. HALE, ARCHITECT.

THE DINING ROOM HOUSE OF CHARLES HEAD, ESQ., MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA.                    HERBERT D. HALE, ARCHITECT.

THE BILLIARD ROOM HOUSE OF CHARLES HEAD, ESQ., MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA.                    HERBERT D. HALE, ARCHITECT.

        
   Charles Head was married to Clementine Hortense (Lovering) Head. Mrs. Head died in April of 1909 and Charles Head died in January of 1910.

   At "Undercliff" Martha Brookes Hutcheson was faced with a rocky, steep hill surrounding the house on the land side and the compelling natural seascape of the Atlantic Ocean to the south. As is visible on the plan Hutcheson effected a transition between the garden and the native landscape by building a semicircular arbor covered with luxuriant, rambling "wild" grapevines. At the same time, she tamed the landscape by lowering the grade at the end of the garden eighteen feet and building a retaining wall, which the arbor also disguised. Giving the flower garden its own axis, away from the drama of the ocean, resolved the competition for the viewer's attention between the natural and the designed landscape, and allowed each to be experienced separately. To avoid the fussiness and claustrophobia such a solution might create on a small property, she provided ocean views from the garden, but they were controlled, enframed, and moderated by a low wall; the full panorama of the sea could be appreciated from the wide terrace supporting the house.    

"UNDERCLIFF" SHOWING USE OF LEVELS. SEE AXIS C

   
    House and Garden - ONE should not come upon a formal garden too suddenly. The way to it should be a gradual progress from the house. This axiom is beautifully illustrated in the garden at the home of Dr. J. Henry Lancashire at Manchester, Mass.

"UNDERCLIFF" SHOWING USE OF LEVELS. SEE AXIS B

WEST SIDE, LOOKING NORTH. HOUSE OF CHARLES HEAD, ESQ., MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA.                    HERBERT D. HALE, ARCHITECT.

"UNDERCLIFF" SHOWING APPROACH TO GARDEN. SEE AXIS C

     
    From the grass terrace before the house — a terrace worked out by a stone wall and accented with pottery jars—one passes by slow degrees along grass walks down to the lower level of the garden. Here are formal beds brilliant with color the season through. The main axis terminates in a semi-circular lily pool held in a stone curbing.

"UNDERCLIFF" FROM A SIDE PATH OF THE GARDEN.

"Graftonwtood" A perspective view shows the design of the beds, the pool and pergola covered with vines.MRS. WM. A. HUTCHESON, Landscape Architect

    
    This is a walled garden, the forest at the upper side being cut off by a high retaining wall covered with vines and apple trees on espaliers.  Beneath the walls are hollyhocks, small roses, iris and buddleia. The lower wall of the garden is not so high because—and this is the surprise! — the slope below it stretches down to the sea.

"Graftonwtood" Standing on the terrace before the house one catches this glimpse of the garden and its setting.MRS. WM. A. HUTCHESON, Landscape Architect

   

    On either side of the pergola steps are large clipped bay trees. The border planting under the wall includes bright poppies and stately lilies, primroses and Solomon's Seal, peonies and iris, with spireas and tall roses against the wall and climbing roses above.

"Graftonwtood" Manchester, Mass.   Doctor and Mrs. J. Henry Lancashire. From a photograph by Frances Benjamin Johnson, 1924

    
    At this point the ways divide. On each side stone steps lead to a pergola so heavily bowered in vines that one does not at first suspect it of being a pergola. This forms the exedra or termination of the garden.

"Graftonwtood"  Little side paths lead to hidden glimpses of great loveliness in color and profusion of blossom. MRS. WM. A. HUTCHESON, Landscape Architect

"Graftonwtood"  Manchester, Mass.   Doctor and Mrs. J. Henry Lancashire. From a photograph by Frances Benjamin Johnson, 1924

   
    Behind rises a rock-ribbed hillside heavily forested. The garden, then, is like a jewel of many colors in a setting of woods, its formal lines and varied colors contrasting with the rugged character of the immediate surroundings.

"Graftonwtood" From the lily pool one can look up the grass paths between the orderly beds to the house.MRS. WM. A. HUTCHESON, Landscape Architect

The formality of the garden is accounted for by pyramidal box specimens placed at regular intervals along the edge of the middle path and the box by which the beds are bordend in the beds are all the well-loved pernnials—delphinium and digitalis, Campanula, iris, daisies, snapdragons, peonies, feverfew,  heliotrope. Phlox, that splendid color contribution to any garden, has been judiciously and effectively used in various shades of pink and white.

"Graftonwtood" Manchester, Mass.   Doctor and Mrs. J. Henry Lancashire.From a photograph by Frances Benjamin Johnson, 1924

THE CENTRAL DOORWAY OF THE HOUSE, ON WHICH THE GARDEN'S AXIS WAS ESTABLISHED. TAKEN BEFORE PLANTING, FROM THE WOODED LAND AT THE BACK OF THE GARDEN SITE. SEE AXIS A

THE SAME AXIS AS THAT SHOWN IN THE PLANTED GARDEN, BELOW. THE GRADE IN EXCAVATION WAS LOWERED EIGHTEEN FEET AT THE END OF THE GARDEN, THROUGH THE FORMATION OF THE "STERN AND ROCK-BOUND COAST" OF THE NORTH SHORE. THE ARBOR, AS SEEN BELOW, WAS USED AS A LOGICAL TERMINATION AND DISGUISE OF THE NECESSARILY AUSTERE RETAINING-WALL.

AXIS OF THE GARDEN SEEN THROUGH ENTIRE LENGTH OF THE HOUSE, AND CENTRING ON THE BREAKFAST-ROOM TABLE.  THE DROP IN LEVEL BETWEEN THE TERRACE AND THE GARDEN TURF IS BUT SIX INCHES AND COVERED BY ONE STEP, BUT THIS GIVES A DISTINCT IMPRESSION OF DEMARCATION BETWEEN THE GARDEN AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. SEE AXIS A

"UNDERCLIFF" PATHWAY LEADING TO GRAPE ARBOR, WHICH SPANS THE GARDEN AT ITS END.

   
    Bisecting the garden are two paths, at the end of which are pretty garden ornaments — bird baths and satyrs looking out from a bower of roses, an old stone well-head, and benches set in shady, secluded corners among fine plantings of rhododendrons and grapevines.

"UNDERCLIFF" DETAIL OF ARBOR TREATMENT WHEN FULLY DEVELOPED.

"UNDERCLIFF" THE BIRD BATH.  FIGURE BY FRANCES GRIMES, SCULPTOR

    
    The sea beyond, the rock-ribbed hills behind; inside these walls, comfortable formality, soft grass paths, touches of statuary, a lily pool mirroring the sky and color from early spring to the first frost of autumn.

A STONE BATH-HOUSE BUILT OF THE NATIVE ROCK. THE SUBSTANTIAL WOODEN LATTICE OVER THE ROOF WAS BUILT TO HOLD WILD GRAPEVINES. MAKING THE INTRODUCTION OF THE BUILDING PRACTICALLY INCONSPICUOUS FROM THE LEVELS ABOVE AND FROM THE WATER.

      
    1938 aerial showing "Graftonwood" aka "Undercliff".  Sometime after this aerial was taken the house was destroyed by some means unknown to me. Another, smaller  home was built on the original foundations. The gardens survive  BING VIEW today. 

 
    Perhaps no man in his day was better known in the financial world than Charles Head, the founder of the well known banking house of Charles Head & Company, which was located at 74 State street.

   For prestige and past record this house probably was second to none. For years Mr. Head was actively engaged on the Boston stock exchange, and he had been a member of the governing committee for 25 years, serving on this committee at the time of his death. He was also president of the exchange from 1893 to 1896.

The building in which this banking house made its home, at 74 State street, was the first example of its kind in the banking district.

    
    74 State Street, corner of Merchants Row. First building erected for use by banking and brokerage business. Distinguished by having bedroom and bath. Occupied, February 1902 - building demolished September, 1921.

412 Beacon Street

    
    The Heads' city home, 412 Beacon Street, Boston. Link also mentions a Hudson River home in Westport called the "Headlands".

Mrs. James Henry Lancashire - Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Marcel Ignaz Gaugengigl

 
    The Lancashire's were wealthy, social,  world travelers and multi-home owner(stories are found in the New York Times Archives). In the doctors obituary(March 6, 1936) it reads "he had retired from practice, he had interests in Michigan mines and other industries." 

1015 Fifth Avenue The Nanny House

    Before 1916 the Lancashire's were living at 1015 Fifth Avenue, which had been a extravagant wedding gift to Marjorie Gould on her married to Anthony Drexel Jr. by her father George Gould. They then went on to purchase 7 East 75th Street from James McLean. 

11 East 69th Street

  
    In 1923 the Lancashire's commissioned Delano & Aldrich to design a new home at 11 East 69th Street. 

952 Fifth Avenue was the only apartment building built during the time zoning restrictions limited height to 75 feet.

   Mrs. Lancashire died in 1946, her last address being 952 Fifth Avenue. She had sold 11 East 69th in 1931. In 1940 the contents of "Graftonwood" were sold in an auction. "ANTIQUE FURNITURE, furnishings, paintings, etc.". It must have been after this time frame the original "Undercliff" was demolished???

"Shorelands" the Seaside Villa of Henry Seligman, Esq., Elberon, New Jersey

October 6, 2014, 1:00 am

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SEASIDE property which is bounded on one end by the principal driveway of its town, and on the other by the Atlantic Ocean, and contains within it vegetable and flower gardens, lawns and tennis courts, a lodge, stable and bathing pavilion, while the mansion itself is amply secluded within spacious stretches of grass, possesses some elements of novelty and many properties that lend themselves to delightful and charming treatment. Such at least are the salient features which Mr. Seligman's house, designed by Mr. C. P. H. Gilbert, architect, of New York, at Elberon immediately offers to the visitor. 

A Pair of Doric Columns Marks the Entrance to the Grounds

The roads limits of the place are defined by chains, fastened to posts of interesting design, with two lofty columns at the driveway, surmounted by globe-lights. 

The Lodge Is a Pleasant two-story Structure

To the left is the lodge, a pleasant two-story, flat-roofed structure with wings of one story. The space between it and the entrance driveway is filled by a lovely garden of the gayest-blooming flowers. 

Only the Central Court-like Recess Makes Known the Stable

On the right is the stable, a structure whose identity is at once proclaimed by its central covered court, but which, being designed in harmony with the other buildings on the property, has, save for this feature, little of the outward characteristics of such buildings. Both structures, as well as the house, are of wood, painted white, with blinds of Indian red. The grounds are beautifully hedged here, and within them is the vegetable garden, arranged in blocks and groups, and having a true ornamental character of its own. The land beyond stretches away in ample lawns to the house, which, while by no means situated at the furthest extremity of the property, is located at a considerable distance from the outer highway.

The House Is of Wood Painted White, with Shutters of Indian Red, and Is Abundantly Porched on All Sides

A splendid curve brings the carriage directly before the entrance portico. The house is H-shaped, with a central body and wings at either end, projected on the entrance front. Across the middle is a covered porch, with a projected center, and which at each end is connected with the terraces that are carried all around the house. These terraces, on the entrance front, have their own separate steps. At the base of one are carved sphynxes of marble; at the base of the other are upright lions supporting shields. The house is two stories in height, with an attic so boldly developed as to have the real architectural character of a third story. Directly in the center is a roof garden, surmounted with a pergola, supported on the front by elaborately carved gaines. The windows are everywhere rectangular in design, with simple frames; those on the ends of the wings are doubled; those elsewhere are single. At each end of each wing, on the entrance front, is a doorway, instead of a window, which admits to a side porch contained within the outer lines of the house.  Both entrance porch and terraces are enclosed within paneled railing boxes, which are repeated above the porch, where they enclose a terrace at the level of the second floor. The brick base of the building is hidden behind a low-growing hedge, while further relief is found in an abundance of bay trees and pots and jars of foliage and flowering plants and gaily planted boxes standing on the terrace steps and above the porch. One can not look for trees so close to the shore, and relief from the sun is obtained by awnings attached to the porch. 

"Shorelands"  The Wings Form an Open Court at the Entrance Front Where the Solid White of the Housed Is Very Agreeably Relieved by Plants and Flowers

A great double door, completely glazed and with side windows which extend to the floor, admits to the central hall. This is a spacious apartment opening onto the ocean side of the house.

The Spacious Hall Is Paneled in Oak, Above which Is a Plain While Frieze.   At Each End Is an Arcade of Elliptical Arches

 At each end is an arcade formed of low elliptical arches, of which the middle one is much the widest, supported on wood columns. A high wainscot of paneled oak is carried completely around the room; the upper wall is finished with a plain white surface. The ceiling is white and beamed, with large panels. The mantel is under the arcade to the left. It has brick facings within oak columns supporting a frieze, below which is a relief. On the right the entire wall is filled with a series of glazed doors, curtained, separating the hall from the dining room. There are handsome Oriental rugs on the hardwood floor. The curtains at the windows are red damask, and the furniture, for the most part, is covered with red leather and velvet. The stairs to the upper story rise on the entrance front and are carried across the entrance doorway by the platform. The walls of the upper hall are covered with a diapered pattern.

Library Is a Mission Room in Various Tones of Green

On the left of the hall is a passage that leads to the library, situated in the furthest wing of the house and on the entrance front. It is charmingly furnished in the Mission style. The prevailing color is green; the hardwood floor, the rug, the wainscot, the upper walls, the wood of the furniture, the velvet curtains at the windows, the beams and panels of the ceiling, are all in beautifully harmonized shades of green. The chairs are covered with a reddish brown leather; the wainscot supports a shelf, and a handsome copper electric chandelier desends from the center of the ceiling.

The Drawing-room Is Pink and White : the Furniture Includes Some Fine Old Pieces of Great Variety

Behind this room, but not connected with it, being entered by a separate door from the hall, is the drawing room. This is a sumptuous apartment in pink and white, very beautifully developed. The walls have a low wainscot of wood, painted white, and picked out with bands of green. Above they are covered with white watered-silk paper, with the same green bands in the corners and margins, thus forming large panel-like divisions. The cornice is white and richly detailed, and the ceiling is without ornamentation. The wood mantel has facings and hearth of light mottled buff Roman brick. The color of the room is supplied by the rug, the furniture and the curtains. The rug is in two shades of pink. The curtains are of white net with applique borders of pink flowers and green leaves. The furniture is covered with white velvet decorated with a similar pattern in green and pink; a curtain of the same fabric hangs over the entrance doorway. The grand piano, in one corner, has an exquisite cover of light-colored brocade. There are some fine pieces of old furniture in the room, which is lighted by side lights. 

The Dining-room, Designed in the Dutch Style, Is Oak and Blue

The dining-room is on the opposite side of the hall, and overlooks the ocean; it has windows on three sides, two of which directly face the water. It is beautifully designed in the Dutch style. The color scheme is blue and white. The walls are iencasedwith a high paneling in natural oak, which reaches to the tops of the doors: it carries a shelf on which are placed a number of blue and white pieces of pottery, a couple of fine Wedgwood plaques, a Delia Robbia relief, and other ornaments. All these stand in relief against the frieze of plain pale blue. The ceiling is beamed, with panels of light blue. There is a blue and white rug on the hardwood floor, and the oak furniture has covers of blue leather. The mantel, which supports a paneled overmantel, has facings of dark buff Roman brick. The side of the room which adjoins the hall is, as has been stated, completely filled with glazed doors, over which are blue and white curtains. The curtains at the windows are of blue velvet.

The Billiard Room Is Paneled in Green, with Rough Plastered Walls

The billiard-room is in the same wing on the front of the house. The walls have a wainscot of green stained oak in upright boards; above are panels of rough plaster with  intersecting circles, the whole being crowned with a shelf. There are numerous pictures above, chiefly hunting scenes. The plain cornice corresponds to the wood used below. The ceiling is plain, with three central lights depending from the center over the table. The floor is stained green. The furniture is of oak, covered with green leather. The buff window curtains have bands of green with billiard ornaments on the lambrequins.

The Sunken Garden Lies Below Brick Walls Surmounted with a Handsome Balustrade

"Shorelands": Marble Statues at the Base of the Steps to the Sunken Garden

On the south side of the house is a portico in two stories; a long flight of steps descends from this to the sunken garden which has been built on this side. It is also reached by steps from the entrance and ocean front, and is a true sunken garden, contained within bricked walls, surmounted by a paneled balustrade. Marble statues stand at the base of each of the side steps. There is a fine old well head in the center, and the surrounding space is laid out with panels of grass and borders of flowers. The walls are covered with vines and partly screened with hedges.

While the house sets well back in its surrounding land, it is still a considerable distance from the ocean. The ocean front has a long porch, below which is the tennis court. The buildings are completed with the bathing pavilion, which is designed in harmony with the other structures and which is directly in the center on the extreme ocean edge. It is a gracious two-story structure, with an upper belvedere, or observatory, a fine outlook pleasantly arranged.

"Shorelands" in 1920

"Shorelands" twenty years later. Stable is gone. Note the shoreline recession, beach pavilion is gone.

"Shorelands" in 1947

"Shorelands" in 1953, the house is gone.

"Shorelands" in 1979

Todays view showing a 1993 build. The lodge survives with additions.

Henry Seligman

Seligman was a senior partner in the prestigious investment banking firm of J. & W. Seligman & Company, founded in 1864 by his uncles and his father, Jesse. The Seligmans established themselves as one of the pre-eminent German-Jewish families in the United States and became known as “the American Rothschilds.” Henry Seligman was also influential in financing railroad construction in the American West as well as serving as a director for several major industrial and artistic organizations across the United States.  In his book "Our Crowd: The Great Jewish Families of New York", Stephen Birmingham said the Seligmans "virtually invented" international banking in the United States.

Henry and Adelaide(Walter) Seligman purchased property in Elberon, New Jersey, a popular summer retreat for German-Jewish families(The Jewish Newport). C.P.H. Gilbert received the commission, and his “improvements” for their summer house included “a large residence, stables, gardener’s cottage, bathhouses, &C.” The couple also had a townhouse in new York City, also by Gilbert and a villa called “Casa Mia” in Palm Beach, Florida. For their Spanish style Palm Beach house they retained architect Marion Sims Wyeth. 

Addie Seligman was a double Seligman, having married, first, Joseph Seligman's son David, and, upon his death, his first cousin, Henry. All through the twenties her parties, in her houses in Elberon, Palm Beach, and in East Fifty-sixth Street, were celebrated. She had a butler, De Witt who she liked to say "set the standard for a whole generation of German Jewish families. He was stationed at the foot of the stairs, and arriving guests learned to fear his look of icy disapproval.

Henry died in 1933 and Addie in 1936.

Elberon, New Jersey

ELBERON is a continuation of Long Branch on the south, practically belonging to it although not within the corporation limits. The ground was purchased of Benjamin Wooley by Lewis B. Brown (from whose initials and name Elberon was formed) being an area of 100 acres. This plot was laid out with much taste, many improvements being added to a naturally attractive site, the result being one of the most complete  and elegant resorts on the Jersey coast. Among the handsome residences of this place is the Francklyn Cottage, rendered famous as the refuge to which President Garfield was brought, and where he was lulled into his final sleep by the murmur of the sea. General Grant's former summer home is also at Elberon. The ground at Elberon is higher and more rolling than at the resorts directly on the sea and thus gives the place a distinct topographical character. Source

CENTRAL PANEL FOR A CEILING, SOUTHAMPTON, L. I.

October 7, 2014, 1:00 am

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CENTRAL PANEL FOR A CEILING, SOUTHAMPTON, L. I.  ERNEST PEIXOTTO, Painter, New York

Where this is located is unknown to me.

PANEL FOR A GARDEN ROOM AT MILL NECK, L. I.

October 8, 2014, 1:00 am

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PANEL FOR A GARDEN ROOM AT MILL NECK, L. I. ERNEST PEIXOTTO, Painter, New York

PANEL FOR A GARDEN ROOM AT MILL NECK, L. I.  ERNEST PEIXOTTO, Painter, New York

As of now I do not know what estate this was for.

EVERGREEN GARDEN ESTATE OF MARSHALL FIELD, ESQ. LLOYDS NECK, LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK

October 9, 2014, 1:00 am

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EVERGREEN GARDEN  ESTATE OF MARSHALL FIELD, ESQ. LLOYDS NECK, LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK Marian C. Coffin, Landscape Architect

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RESIDENCE FOR HENRY M. MINTON, ESQ., MANHASSET, L. I.

October 10, 2014, 1:00 am

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RESIDENCE FOR HENRY M. MINTON, ESQ., MANHASSET, L. I.  Thomas Harlan Ellett, Architect, New York

"Brookwood", the Henry Miller Minton estate designed by Thomas H. Ellet c. 1929 in North Hills.

Mr. Minton began his career with the New York financial concern of Spencer Trask & Company, where he remained until he joined Church & Dwight. Mr. Minton joined the company in 1938 and was instrumental in making the logotype of one of its divisions, Arm and Hammer, the country's largest producer of baking soda.

"Brookwood" has since been demolished. Click HERE to see where estate stood at wikimapia. 1966 aerial showing estate still standing. Check THIS LINK for another Ellett rendering. 

Penthouse Apartment of Robert M. Catts on Top of the Park-Lexington Building

October 20, 2014, 1:00 am

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In the early nineteen-twenties, Mr. Catts erected the 20-story Park-Lexington office building at 247 Park Avenue, adjoining the Grand Central Palace on the west, and on one of the top floors he had an apartment, which was referred to in the newspapers as one of the most magnificent dwellings in the city. 

Robert M. Catts and Associates, Who Last Week Acquired Control of the Structure Occupying the Block Bounded by Forty-sixth to Forty-seventh Street, Lexington Avenue and Depew Place, Propose to Erect New Hotel or Commercial Structure on Vacant Plot Adjoining the Palace on Park Avenue and Remodel the Palace Into Modem Office Building. PROPOSED ADDITIONS TO GRAND CENTRAL PALACE

August 13, 1922

One of the most noteworthy of the big commercial buildings just started in the Grand Central centre is the twenty-story Park-Lexington Building, occupying the site over the railroad tracks on the east side of Park Avenue, between Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Streets. It is being erected by Robert M. Catts, who leased the property some time ago when he took over the adjoining Grand Central Palace on the Lexington Avenue block front between the same thoroughfares. Warren & Wetmore are the architects and the cost is placed at $2,000,000. The facades will be of ornamental terra-cotta and gray brick. There will be a  150-foot arcade from Park Avenue to the Grand Central Palace, combining many artistic features. It will make a new and attractive entrance to the exhibitions held in the Palace, and there will be a row of small stores on either side of the arcade. 

Park-Lexington Building 247 Park Avenue The view is south towards Grand Central Terminal before the 1929 construction of the New York Central Building(Helmsley Building).

The Pan Am Building and the Shattering of the Modernist Dream - Building an office building over railroad tracks was not in itself new. The concept dated back at least to the turn of the century, with William J. Wilgus's master plan for the development of the Grand Central area with the new terminal at its core. The enormous difficulties and huge expense encountered in sinking the foundation footings of buildings on upper Park Avenue down fifty feet below grade through the New York Central Railroad's steel double-decked track structure to bedrock, then threading the foundation steel and other construction materials for a new building overhead through the two track levels without interrupting train service, had been encountered as early as 1923, with the building of the twenty-story Park-Lexington Building on Park Avenue. Space both for operations and for the storage of materials on the confined Park-Lexington site was severely limited, and workers had to operate from platforms suspended from above, as they could not erect anything from below that might obstruct the operation of trains. To avoid vibrations from trains, all steel for the new building had to be wholly independent of the railroad structure, with columns resting on steel billets supported on independent foundations, cushioned to minimize transmission of movement. The problems encountered in the Park-Lexington Building had been solved so successfully that it served as a model for the subsequent buildings on Park Avenue that mushroomed in its wake.

Penthouse Apartment of Robert M. Catts on Top of the Park-Lexington Building

In the nineteen-twenties Robert M. Catts, was described in newspapers of the period as the most "spectacular" real estate operator of the day. Mr. Catts may have been spectacular in his operations, but according to the newspaper reports he was also insolvent during most of his career. At one time he barricaded himself in the penthouse to avoid being served court papers.

Among the enterprises with which Mr. Catts was associated at various times, either as builder or owner, or both, were the Marshall Field Building, an unusual combination of apartment house and office building at 200 Madison Avenue; the Medical Arts Building at Fifty-seventh Street and Sixth Avenue, and the Cheney Silk Building. He was the originator of the plan by which Calvary Baptist Church on West Fifty-seventh Street became a combination apartment house and church.

In 1899 Mr. Catts eloped with Miss Ola McWhorter of Millington, Md., six months after he called at her house to solicit orders for pictures. They were divorced a few years later and in 1911 he secretly married Dorothy Tennant, actress, who scored a hit as the original widow in George Ade's comedy, "The College Widow". 

PAINTED CEILING IN THE DINING ROOM OF R. M. CATTS, NEW YORK. DECORATION BY ARTHUR CRISP The ground in lacquer red, painted with Persian designs in old gold, blue, and antique white. Each of the four sides of the cove depicts a different method of procuring food.

Mr. Catts sold his interest in the buildings to August Heckscher, another large real estate owner, in 1923. The penthouse having several tenants until converted into offices.

July 17, 1960

A twelve-room duplex penthouse apartment on the roof of the twenty-story building at 247 Park Avenue has been converted into a thirty-five-room office suite.

The apartment was a relic of the lavish Nineteen Twenties. Its first occupant, in 1922, was the late Robert M. Catts, a well known real estate operator and the owner of the building at No. 247.

The building is just north of Grand Central Terminal, on the east side of Park Avenue between Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Streets.

Before World  War II, the apartment had a number of tenants who succeeded Mr. Catts, among them Jascha Heifitz, the violinist.

When office space became scarce after the war, the apartment was rented out for offices by William A. White & Sons, agents for the office structure. The duplex was recently leased to Wright Long & Co., accountants, and the law firm of Saul S. Silverman, and has been redesigned by Dallek, Inc., interior design firm.

The first floor of the duplex had two master bedrooms, a living room measuring 35 by 64 feet, a studio, dining room and gallery, all surrounded by a terrace.

The interior design of the duplex — a  melange  of French Gothic, which predominates, Italian Renaissance, and a touch of old Spain and the Far East— has been kept intact.

New walls, however, were built to divide the great rooms into offices, and some passageways were closed to re-route the traffic pattern. All the offices have been air-conditioned, and a new lighting system has been installed throughout.

The old dining room is now a conference room. Oak paneling and the ceiling which had been painted to resemble a medieval tapestry, have been retained and the travertine floor has been renewed by sanding.

The roof of his house has been transformed into a gorgeous garden, containing rare plants and statuary. The great East River bridges, in the background, supply striking contrast. Popular Science 1924

Mr. Catts died April 22, 1942, at the age of 63. He had remained active in the real estate business long after he gave up the Palace. A business associate was quoted saying that "Mr. Catts had more vision and initiative than any other New York realty operator and builder of his time."

Grand  Central Palace A view of the Catts penthouse can be seen at the top.

For years the Grand Central Palace was one of the best known and heaviest trafficked buildings in the city. It provided the largest exhibit space available here until the completion of the New York Coliseum in 1956.

Thousands of New Yorkers and out-of-town visitors attended the annual flower, automobile and motor boat shows that made the Palace famous. 

During World War II the Government took over the Palace's exhibition hall as an Induction and Enlistment Headquarters for the armed services. 

After the war it was decided that the city needed a larger and more modern central exhibition center, and plans got

underway for the Coliseum. The Manhattan district office of the United States Internal Revenue Service occupied the Palace's exhibition space from 1953 until its demolition, and every year, at the approach of April 15, the old building was nearly as crowded as it was in its old exhibition days—but with taxpayers, not  flower lovers.

In 1963, 52 years after Grand Central Palace opened and a decade after the last show was held there, the building was demolished. A 44-story office tower, 245 Park Avenue, took its place. The adjoining Park-Lexington Building was taken down at the same time. 

Views in an Apartment on the Roof of a New York Office Building

October 27, 2014, 1:00 am

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Great Hall in an Apartment on the Roof of a New York Office Building

Stairway in an Apartment on the Roof of a New York Office Building

Dining Room in an Apartment on the Roof of a New York Office Building

Window Recess in a Dining Room in an Apartment on the Roof of a New York Office Building

PANELS FROM AN OLD COROMANDEL SCREEN HAVE BEEN TREATED AS PILASTERS AND THE COLOR SCHEME OF THE ROOM HAS BEEN DERIVED FROM THEM. Library in an Apartment on the Roof of a New York Office Building

THE PANELS FROM AN OLD COROMANDEL SCREEN HAVE BEEN HINGED TO WALL TO PERMIT BOTH SIDES TO BE VIEWED. WALLS BUFF WITH RED LACQUER MOULDINGS. FURNITURE RICH WARM TONES, OLD ROSE VELVET UPHOLSTERY. Detail of Library in an Apartment on the Roof of a New York Office Building

Master's Bedroom in an Apartment on the Roof of a New York Office Building

Master's Bedroom in an Apartment on the Roof of a New York Office Building

WALLS AND WOOD WORK IN GRAY-BLUE AND SAND COLOR, MANTEL OF LIGHT GRAY BLUE MARBLE, PANELS OF APPLIQUE EMBROIDERY IN BLUE AND BEIGE. LEATHER CHAIR COVERING STRONG BLUE, WOOD MAPLE. Detail in the Master's bedroom of an Apartment on the Roof of a New York Office Building

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I'LL BE BACK

November 10, 2014, 1:14 pm

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Gothic Hall - Arthur Curtiss James - New York City

November 24, 2014, 1:00 am

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GOTHIC HALL Arthur Curtiss James, New York City

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