'
Broadhollow', the
Winthrop Williams Aldrich estate designed possibly by William Truman Aldrich c. 1926 in
Brookville. Winthrop was the chairman of the board of Chase National Bank and Ambassador to the Court of St. James under President Eisenhower. He began his career as a lawyer specializing in the legal problems of banking and finance. Among his many other notable achievements, he was a commodore of the New York Yacht Club and his boat, 'Flying Cloud', won the Astor Cup in 1923. He was also an uncle to five Rockefeller brothers, John D. 3d, Nelson, Laurance, David and Winthrop. Click
HERE to see the brochure from when '
Broadhollow' was for sale. Click
HERE to see '
Broadhollow' on google earth.
'Broadhollow', the Winthrop Williams Aldrich estate designed possibly by William Truman Aldrich c. 1926 in Brookville. Winthrop was the chairman of the board of Chase National Bank and Ambassador to the Court of St. James under President Eisenhower. He began his career as a lawyer specializing in the legal problems of banking and finance. Among his many other notable achievements, he was a commodore of the New York Yacht Club and his boat, 'Flying Cloud', won the Astor Cup in 1923. He was also an uncle to five Rockefeller brothers, John D. 3d, Nelson, Laurance, David and Winthrop. Click HERE to see the brochure from when 'Broadhollow' was for sale. Click HERE to see 'Broadhollow' on google earth.
18 comments:
The Aldrich's summer house, an enormous Georgian colonial affair, is a few miles from here at Dark Harbor on Isleboro. It was a remodeling, by William Aldrich for his brother, of a Tudorbethan shingle style cottage. As remodeled, it has enough in common with Broadhollow in spirit and details that one can easily believe Aldrich as designer here.
I wish I had more time, and that my photo uploader on blogger wasn't giving me trouble, I'd post the Aldrich cottage on my blog as a complement to this post...oh well.
I did find this photo online of the Aldrich cottage. Unfortunately, it is of the water front, which retains its shingle style aspect, somewhat cleaned up. It is the entrance front, complete with Georgian pedimented doorway, where the affinity with Broadhollow can be seen. Nevertheless, thought y'all might be interested to see where the Aldriches camped out when they weren't weekending on Long Island.
http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/dark-harbor-maine-winthrop-aldrichs-cottage
And a link to a brick manor designed by William Aldrich in Brookline MA
http://www.bostoncondoloft.com/introducing-333-lee-street-brookline-our-single-family-of-the-week/
I'm curious as to why Aldrich adopted the name of the property. As I have understood the unwritten protocol then (and even now) was to never take an existing name.
So if Aldrich's estate was erected in 1924 then why would he have used "Broadhollow", when F. Ambrose Clark's estate by architect Rogers & Zogbaum was built in 1912 and known as Broad Hollow?
Good question about the name..Sam Aldrich (Son) still lives..he is in Saratoga. Perhaps he might know the story about the name ?. I grew up, literally, next door to this fabulous home ( pre break up)..the best stories from this house are during the Woolworth Donohue years.. So mant celebs up and down that long driveway..Who knew Ethel Merman and Cardinal Pacceli were buddies? I did. Maybe a little scandalous??? I am just sayin....
The woods in this area were known by the Broadhollow moniker. SUNY OW built their campus in the middle of said woods.
I meant to say "Jimmy" Woolworth Donohue and Cardinal Pacelli ( aka Pope Pius XI)..Also forgot to point out that this house has one heck of a provenance..Aldrich, Vanderbilt, Woolworth, Uris. If the walls could talk.
"Dancing with the Devil" is a great read about Jimmy Donahue and his colorful past...including his odd relationship with Wallis Simpson, always wondered what the house looked like.
Anon 3:06- A little scandalous? How about a lot? Jimmy Donahue was the original bad boy, and when he wasn't entertaining the Windsors, Ethel Merman and the Cardinal, was famed for the week-end long all male parties he hosted. These bacchalias were so notorious that wags suggested that he rename the estate "Boyhollow".
Security word of the day (I swear I didn't make this up): Mixigai- The annual cocktail party Jimmy Donahue gave to introduce all of his friends to one another. It typically took place at Broadhollow.
ok, I am anon 3;06 and my bad..it was Cardinal Spellman, not Pacelli.
My parents would see the limousines all the time up and down..my dad went on to be Mayor of the town and they honestly had no clue what was going on up there. The other one they used to see going up there was, brace yourself, Spencer Tracy.I kinda wish I was born earlier. hint, hint.
Ah, Jimmy Donahue; you've gotta know that any man dubbed The Manhattan Caligula is a man after my own heart.
The main house seems to be well-preserved although the elaborate gardens have long since vanished. The surrounding homes pale in comparison, not just in size but lack of soul. One look at Broadhollow's floor plan (with its attractive oblique wing) reveals an interesting layout fit for a sadly recherché lifestyle.
Anon 3:06- And Frances Cardinal Spellman (or "Fanny Spellman" as the New York cognescenti dubbed him) was a trip and a half himself. He shared a number of tastes with Jimmy Donahue, the Roman Catholic Church being only one of them. My step-mother told me an extraordinary story about him: In the 1950's she was invited to the Alfred E. Smith dinner in New York by a very prominent real estate developer. The dinner is a huge fundraiser for the Roman Catholic Church, and Cardinal Spellman, resplendant in his robes headed the receiving committe. As the line inched towards him, my step-mother was astonished to see that he was heavily made up-berouged and powdered. When they moved up to him to shake his hand, my step-mother's date said "good evening Cardinal, you certainly look well this evening", to which Spellman replied with a wink "I bet you say that to all the girls". My step-mother said that she was so stunned that her date had to practically carry her to their table.
Spencer Tracy!!! Get outta here!!! Where was Katherine....LOL....he must of been going there for the drinks....tell us more.....
Sam Aldrich is defiantly not Winthrop's son. You may have lived near by but your facts just are not right. He only had one son so I would get his name right.
I am so glad I stumbled across this forum. I just finished the book about Jimmy Donahue and the Windsors (I learned about the book right here on this comment string) and it was a great read - thanks!
About Spencer Tracy - no one believes it now, but there were always rumblings about his possible homosexuality. I am a huge fan of his; he is one of the finest (if not THE finest) actor America has ever produced. It has been said that he was a hopeless alcoholic (even Kate H. had spoken about that) and carried a terrible guilt. Everyone always surmised that this guilt was about his relationship with Hepburn, but I think it may have been the struggle he had with his sexuality -- and with the teachings of the Church that meant that satisfying this part of himself was "forbidden fruit."
From what I just read about Jimmy Donahue, he was just the man to bring out all of Tracy's hidden demons...
Anyway, thanks for this forum. I wonder if the house can be glimpsed at all from the road? I would love to see it.
The house is for sale again.
http://realestate.nytimes.com/sales/detail/1999-2615897/11-Evans-Dr-BROOKVILLE-NY-11545
Anon 1:17 Sam Aldrich is most definitely the son of Winthrop.
I was taken there twice towards the end of Jimmy Donahue’s life, including his last New Year’s Eve party. My older gentleman friend who brought me was an old friend of Jimmy’s. We were given Cardinal Spellman’s bedroom and bath for the night. A couple of bus loads of attractive boys arrived. Jimmy’s “Secretary”, a sort of Charles Nelson Riley type called Sally, went to NYC and handed out $100 bills to the attractive boys in bars and put them on the bus. There was a big band playing in the living room. All the things like gold cigarette boxes and ashtrays had little signs on the back saying “This was stolen from Jimmy Donahue”. I saw a big Jade Faberge’ frog on a cocktail table in the library. It had a diamond necklace and a big Ruby in its mouth I knelt down to look at it more closely and Jimmy said, “You are kneeling right where I f—-ed the Duchess of Windsor. I didn’t doubt him. It was quite a party.
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