A shot if the rear of 'Welwyn', the Harold Pratt estate designed by Babb, Cook & Willard c. 1906 in Glen Cove. The picture is of the house before it received its makeover by Delano & Aldrich in the early 1920s. Click HERE for more on 'Welwyn'. Picture from Country Life in America, 1917.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
'Welwyn' in 1917
A shot if the rear of 'Welwyn', the Harold Pratt estate designed by Babb, Cook & Willard c. 1906 in Glen Cove. The picture is of the house before it received its makeover by Delano & Aldrich in the early 1920s. Click HERE for more on 'Welwyn'. Picture from Country Life in America, 1917.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Amazing images Zach I also looked at your earlier post of this grand estate.
Karena
Art by Karena
The gardens must also have been substantially redesigned in the 1920's, as this rose garden seems to have been replaced by a large circular pond and a lawn that sloped down to the Pinetum bordering the Sound. Now, of course, these wonderful gardens are a tangle wild mess. Really sad as 20 years ago, the outlines of the gardens were still very apparent. By the way, while I love roses, I have rarely seen a completely succesful rose garden. There is something stiff and unyielding about them which renders them unable to blend into the landscape a harmonious way. Like the effort at Welwyn, most rose gardens look to me like botanical displays, not like first rate landscape design. I think that roses look much better combined with other plants to soften the effect.
I know, I know, everybody's a critic.
Whenever I visit Welwyn, I always take a moment to stand at the top of those now-ruined stairs and look out over the overgrown slope down to the Sound.
One can almost hear a faint trace of music, much like the scene in The Great Gatsby with the Victrola playing as the breeze flutters the gauzy curtains by the pool...
Security word - reffes: bribe paid to the polo master.
as sad as having so many of these castles demolished is the absolute neglect of landscaping in the modern age. there are a few exceptions but very few. if i was going to blow down 30 or 40 mil for one of these showplaces (?), i think i'd probably want a few posies to sniff but the vast majority, both old and new, now look like they were built in the Sahara desert e.g. Indian Neck Hall. I know gardeners hate to spend money but mowers do have other settings than "Scalp" or do they think that brown look in August is attractive. After all, if we can hire illegals to pick fruit, couldn't we hire a few to do landscaping (except in Arizona)
security word def - (thanx to LGB for continuing the tradition) - "harra" - how we pronounce the name of an agricultural tool up heah in maine.
Post a Comment