Wednesday, December 9, 2009

When 'Barberrys' Was For Sale

A brochure advertising 'Barberrys', the Nelson Doubleday estate designed by Harrie Lindeberg c. 1916 in Mill Neck, with landscaping by the Olmsted Brothers. Doubleday was the son of publisher Frank Nelson Doubleday, and would later become chairman of the board of Doubleday & Co., Inc.. The house seems to have been robbed the year it was completed, with the Doubledays having $7,000 stolen (click HERE for the NYTimes article). Click HERE to see 'Barberrys' on google earth and HERE on bing.



Brochure courtesy of SPLIA.

8 comments:

An Aesthete's Lament said...

It's hard not to love any house designed by Lindeberg.

Anonymous said...

WOW, zach, this place seems almost untouched, landscaping and all. what preservationist owns it now? one question - is the gatehouse also that fancy brick garage pictured in the brochure or has that succumbed to "progress"?

Zach L. said...

I don't know who owns it today. But the gatehouse is the garage that is pictured in the brochure.

The only thing that I can tell has really changed is the view, I doubt it has that clear a view of the water nowadays.

Anonymous said...

There is a link at the wikimapia site for this property that takes you to current photos of the house and gatehouse. Very colorful in its presentation.

Glimmerglass said...

This house was on the market in the 1990's. For a couple of issues there was a full page ad in the 'Leading Estate of the World' glossy magazine. As I distinctly recall what was most interesting was that the ad referred to the property as 'Capricorn' and not Barberry, however Doubleday and Lindeberg were both cited.

Perhaps the more jazzy name was thought to be more enticing to would be owners or perhaps the fresh name was used to throw off curiosity seekers.

I've been trying to locate the exact listing in my Lindeberg archives files (assorted clipping of his homes listed for sale, brochures, tour booklets, etc) but it was recently put in storage.

The Ancient said...

TR, and then after he died, his widow Edith, would send wicker hampers of young pines to their neighbors. (I have no idea why they did this.) Perhaps that's what spoiled some of the views.

I have pictures from an adjacent property taken in the Twenties and Thirties.

The Ancient said...

I said "neighbors" when I should have said "friends." Anyway, I know that the pines arrived regularly at an adjacent estate. Perhaps Barberrys got them, too.

Anonymous said...

I used to stay and play here on weekends when I was little. My friend Scott Carter lived here