Saturday, April 19, 2008

Westbury House / Old Westbury Gardens



Westbury House was built c. 1905 for John S. Phipps by the architect George Crawley. John, or Jay as he was known, was the eldest of 3 sons of Henry Phipps, one of Andrew Carnegie's partners at Carnegie Steel. He married Margarita Grace, of english descent, and promised her an english style estate similar to the one she had grown up on. What resulted was a giant mansion on roughly 160 acres in Old Westbury, complete with two ponds, a walled garden, numerous outbuildings and more landscaping than a gardener would know what to do with. Jay's two younger brothers and two sisters lived on palatial estates in Old Westbury as well (Spring Hill, Erchless, Templeton and Knole).  Click HERE to see Old Westbury Gardens on google earth. When Jay and Margarita passed away in the late 1950's, their daughter Peggie helped turn Westbury House into a botanical garden open to the public. See OldWestburyGardens.org for their official website.

The rear of the house as seen from the terrace level.

The rear of the house below the terrace.

The view from the top of the terrace. The ballroom looked out over this.

At the end of the allee there is a giant wrought iron gate.

To the west of the house, down a large staircase is the first pond. On the far side is a reflecting pool with a 10 corinthian columned pergola behind it.

To the east of the house is the swimming pool and further beyond the second and larger pond.

At the far end of the east pond is this gazebo.

One of three entrances to the massive walled garden. Dedicated in memory of Margarita Grace.

The view of the walled garden from just inside the gate.

The view from the far end of the walled garden, under the pergola and looking back at the entrance gate.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

For those who it may concern, this house is most definately the Buchanan's house in The Great Gatsby

Anonymous said...

Not to mention the house in North by Northwest where Cary Grant was force fed liquor by Martin Landau.

Nick said...

This is the most perfect country estate! The proportions, the use of materials, the layout of the gardens and allees, and the interior decoration. The English Carolinian design and furnishings creates a most comfortable and unpretentious estate! I love this. I wish Crawley would have designed more estates! He was brilliant!
Nick