Monday, October 18, 2010

'Longfields'

'Longfields', the William Payne Thompson Jr. estate designed by Carrere & Hastings c. 1910 in Old Westbury. Click HERE to see the brochure from when 'Longfields' was for sale and click HERE to see the ruins of 'Longfields' as they look today.


4 comments:

HalfPuddingHalfSauce said...

SPLIA says - "lacked sophistication" - for me its beautiful. Brochure states "yellow stucco" - thats a bit unusual compared to the standard white.

Back to Jimmy Donahue and the Woolworth's - I read Dancing with the Devil awhile back and from what I remember he was nothing I would want to look up to. The real Caligula was a cruel man with no redeeming qualities. Factor in the sentiment of the time, Jimmy lived a repressed life in a drunken/drugged haze. Beholden to his mother for money, used by the Duke and Duchess, never knowing who really cared for him. Would have loved to be at one of his parties with Ethel Merman thou! I believe the Woolworth Southampton property was demolished after they couldn't break into 'society' like they wanted. Were did this property stand?

My less-than-academic thoughts on why the South Shore became so developed over the North Shore - MONEY. Flat land is cheaper to build on then rolling and rocky hills. For decades the powers-that-be were able to 'sacrifice' the South Shore to development in order to keep the North Shore intact for their benefit. Its such a contrast to see the development south of the LIExp compared to the 'other side'.
Gerrymandering after all originated from the North Shore.

Jeff said...

UGH! I am completely offended by those large, out-of-place windows in stair wells that completely ruin the balance of a facade. Don't get me wrong... their fantastic on a good Tudor-style house and the like, but not on these classical houses. Sorry, just a personal opinion.

lil' gay boy said...

Imposing, but not significant. I can see how the family felt justified in its demolition, especially with Broad Hollow so close at hand.

Still, a sad loss to justify.

Security word - estopous: an eight-legged Esperanto-speaking sea creature.

Anonymous said...

The grounds are impressive.

The South Shore is VERY built up sadly to say. But north of Old Country Road seems to be catching up in many areas which is also very, very unfortunate. They should have left Long Island well enough alone. It seems after WWII the island got screwed and trampled.