Friday, December 31, 2010

'Les Bois'

'Les Bois', the George Monroe Moffett estate designed by Mott Schmidt c. 1927 in Old Brookville. Moffett was chairman of the board of the Corn Products Refining Company where he began his career as a day laborer before eventually being elected president in 1931. He held that position until 1945 when the chairman of the board position was created for him. Moffett also owned herds of Guernsey and Angus cattle which he kept at his residence in Queenstown, Md. I was under the belief that the house was currently owned by the Greenvale School next door but regardless it appears to be in very poor shape. Click HERE to see 'Les Bois' on google earth and HERE on bing.



Photos by James Hogarty.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

A personal favorite.As a I child I always would look down this very long drive as we whizzed by on 25A. This house is classic Brookville.

The Devoted Classicist said...

On the garden side, were there originally pilasters or brackets to give visual support for the central segment of roof overhang? Thanks for including the wonderful garage, too.

Anonymous said...

interesting contrast between the bing and google shots, the bing arial shows the field next door in the very early stages of development, the road has not been asphalted, while google shows several completed homes, gardens etc. question for all the sleuths out there what was the property that was being developed next store?.

Anonymous said...

property being developed was Filasky Farms?

The Down East Dilettante said...

Interesting. A family friend was president of Corn Products before this guy, and raised cattle at his gentleman's farm up here. Must be a corporate requirement.

Anonymous said...

I dont think the "boisterous" Filasky family owned the farm land next door, they were East of Cedar Swamp(although I have been wrong before)I think it was originally Hegeman property.There used to be a fairly large road side farm stand just past Greenvale school, heading West on 25A.It crumbled down on itself probably sometime, mid to late 70"s.

HalfPuddingHalfSauce said...

Its been deleted but someone had tagged Filasky Farms here

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=40.8300147&lon=-73.577714&z=17&l=0&m=b

Anonymous said...

I don't remember any "tractor" farm roads, connecting the two parcels. There would have been one.If there were one, it would have been at the old house(not Filasky owned)behind the Gulf (legendary)gas station, on 107... Just north of intersection of Northern blvd. -n- Cedar Swamp,before Hegeman's lane.I would have remembered seeing tractors crossing there, back in the day.
Old Ground there.

Anonymous said...

Zach, I wa scrolling around on bing..east of this property and stumbled on this house that my parents came very close to making home sweet home in the 1960's. What I was told was it was a pre revolutionary house and it was used as a hiding place for Some famous pirate. OOOHH, Scary. Apparently it had an original false wall with an escape route behind the wall. I hope I tagged this house properly.

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qt3g5b8vzpbr&lvl=19.36950084151297&dir=3.4649516331305423&sty=b&where1=Greenvale%2C%20NY&q=greenvale%20ny

Anonymous said...

Zach, the property I was tried,unsuccessfully, to tag for you (pre revolutionary)is listed on Google Earth as Hickory hill.And apparently the farm butting up to "Les Bois" was owned, in modern times, by the Miller Family AND that the farm house behind the Gulf station was a Filasky home.
Thanks Mom.
Happy New Year.

Anonymous said...

Looks as though it was once a substantially beautiful home. The heating wires on the roof to prevent ice damming, as well as the unkempt shrubbery, are really unfortunate. Hope it will be restored someday.

Anonymous said...

I believe Le Bois was more recently known as Whitehaven. My understanding is that it was recently sold and is slated for demolition. The property tagged as Filasky was indeed Filasky. For me, the truly memorable thing about the farm was the large, motorized-revolving lettuce bin, which had at least 12 types of lettuce in the days when almost everyone stuck to Iceberg. Acrosw from Filasky was the Garden Gate Shop, a wonderfully charming shop and nursery with great topiary, a beautiful, huge stone fireplace and a wonderful Ludovici roof. It stood abandoned for quite some time. A few years ago I tried to buy the mantle, to no avail, as the property was being demolished to be replaced by Peacock Lane (developer bulldozed building etc. next day.) Hickory Hill was William Bottomley's house and I believe is the oldest in Old Brookville. The house is remarkably intact and lovely but the property has been excessively subdivided, including a building lot, for sale, between the house and the road. Finally, I belive the Milers still own the property across the street. Cedar Swamp Road really has some of the best farmhouses and small manor houses on the North Shore. Unfortunately the road itself is more highway than byway these days.

J

HalfPuddingHalfSauce said...

Anonymous January 03, 2011 1:01 AM - Do you have anything on the Davis estate just up the hill from the Rose Farm?

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=40.8223996&lon=-73.5768449&z=17&l=0&m=b&show=/15580805/LIGC-Estate-Joseph-E-Davis

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=40.8249895&lon=-73.5755146&z=17&l=0&m=b&show=/15568815/Brookville-Nursery-Rose-Farm

Anonymous said...

Garden Gate Shop..whoa..that takes me back..How about Wheatley Gardens up the road? both very lovely. Old Long Island : (

Sonny said...

The house behind the Gulf station was indeed a Filasky house. My grandfather, John H. Filasky owned that whole corner at one time back in the 40's and early '50's. He sold that corner to become a gas station in the early 50's with the stipulation thyat they move the entire house from the corner to the site where it used to be. That house was the original stagecoach stop called "Cohen's Corner". It was Moved in the early 50's and I vaguely remember it although I was only 3 or 4 years old.
My father, Charles Somelofski, told me that when the house was moved they found some $50 goldbacks in one of the walls. I would logically deduce that this story was told, retold and embellished over the years to the point where they found "Pirate gold".
My uncle, Fred Filasky married Louise (Cookie) Arendt in 1960 and lived there for many years.
There were 2 old tractor roads. One paralelled 25Afrom that house to the main house. The other ran on the other side of the house and came out in back of the older barn.
PS We were not "Boisterous" We were just one big happy family!

HalfPuddingHalfSauce said...

Sonny - Do you have any insight on the Davis estate just up the hill from the Rose Farm?

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=40.8223996&lon=-73.5768449&z=17&l=0&m=b&show=/15580805/LIGC-Estate-Joseph-E-Davis

Anonymous said...

I used to hunt rabbits and pheasants over there. My buddy and I would sneak in from either Filasky's or through Bill Petrowski's nursery back in the 60's and early 70's. The Rose Farm was owned by the Izzo family. I asked my mother about that last night. She thinks a daughter, Rose Izzo,is still alive and living in Glen Cove. Across 25A from the Filasky farmstand was Wayside Gardens. My mom worked there when she was in high school. We both live in upstate NY. I miss Glen Head and Brookville. We've lived here since 1977 but would always come back to visit until my grandmother, Rose Filasky, died in the late 80's.

Anonymous said...

I had a couple of aunts that worked at Garden Gate in the 40's the man who did the topiary work was named Frank Swaida from Glen Head. His wife's name was Jenny.
My dad farmed about 12 acres that he rented from Herbert Simonson in the 60's. It was on the south side of 25A about half way Between Cedar Swamp and Glen Cove Rd. He grew vegetables for our own farmstand in Glen Head. It was called Hilltop Farm. My mom and dad built it in 1961or 1962.
My uncle,Al Somelofski, was caretaker/chauffeur on the Henry Harris estate on Brookville Rd. Another uncle, Frank(Barney) Somelofski was caretaker on the Delano estate just up the road.

Anonymous said...

Have to leave a comment/reply to "THE DOWNEAST DILETTANTE". I'm related to the Moffett family thru marriage. You refer to George M. Moffett as this guy, very disrespectful but you have no idea who he was.
First of all, his father James A. Moffett was VP of Standard Oil and reported to John D.Rockefeller. Back then it was referred to as THE STANDARD. James met someone from Corn Products Co in the same building as Standard Oil. When George M. graduated from Princeton his dad had become a director of CP. So George made a career of CP. It wasn't an old boys thing. After the war, Mr. Moffetts reputation as an expert in Manufacturing caused President Roosevelt to ask him to restart Manufacturing in the USA, which he did.
Regards to this house. See if you can find any information on his next domicile a 2,000 acre ranch with 40 room home named Blakeford. I know that it was torn down years ago.

He wasn't a this guy.. you should be as successful as the Moffett family.