Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Putting a Face to an Estate 3

Foxhall Keene. Below, his estate 'Rosemary Hall' designed by George Freeman c. 1902 in Old Westbury.


Frederick E. Guest. Below, his estate 'Templeton' designed by Carrere & Hastings c. 1918 in Brookville.

8 comments:

The Down East Dilettante said...

goodness. He looks like a Foxhall Keene if ever anyone did.

Charles said...

Being this time of year, I was wondering if anyone has pictures of the estates decorated (inside or out) for Christmas.

An Aesthete's Lament said...

And this Templeton is not to be confused (dear readers) with the C. Z. Guest estate presently on the market, also known as Templeton. CZ Guest and her husband, Winston, named it in honor of the original house shown in this post, which they sold in 1972. And a small correction: The Templeton shown here was actually completed in 1918 for Alfred Irenée du Pont. Originally called White Eagle, the house was purchased by steel heir Howard Phipps in the 1920s and soon after it became the home of Phipp's grandnephew Frederick Guest and his wife, Amy.

Zach L. said...

AAL- Thank you for the date correction. I had to run out of the house in a hurry this morning. If you click on the link to Templeton I provided a link to the Times article on the auction when the Phipps family purchased the estate in 1921.

lil' gay boy said...

And completely unrelatedly, but an owner subsequent to the duPonts (who I seem to recall I read somewhere never actually took up residence, but rather picked up White Eagle as an investment, it being part of an unfinished project), added the second story windows on either side of the entry façade, forever destroying the rigorous symmetry. From the published floorplans I'd seen, I could never understand why; it's not like the rooms were small & dark as they were already south-facing and the existing windows were generously proportioned.

"Faces & Places" –– great concept, Zach; I'm quite impressed. I've often noticed that there were very few of the mega rich, either old or new money, who could turn a head in a locker room when all else was stripped away; although by the standards of the day, one or two would not have frightened Mrs. Astor's horses...

Bourne is very much the 19th century entrepreneur, and surprisingly resembles my great-grandfather, a haberdasher on Maiden Lane who, oddly enough, had dealings with Brokaw Brothers at some point. Irving Brokaw appears to be neither the athlete nor a suspected friend of Dorothy but rather an up-and-coming "beautiful young thing" of the '20s. His wife, however, looks like the housekeeper. Mackay appears to be the soul of reticence he was purported to be, albeit not the kind to forbid his daughter from marrying Irving Berlin (seems to me he was enough of a milquetoast to relent).

Otto Khan comes across as exactly who & what he was –– brilliant, clever, and not to be trifled with. Keene is indeed as DED states, and, to be kind, Frederick Guest looks like the type that is easily startled. One notable exception to the "Adonises of the Day" was Porfirio Rubirosa who, although he made what little money he retained the old-fashioned way (marrying it), was no oil painting by any standards of male beauty; he did, however, possess that notorious endowment ––– which is why the waiters of the day referred to a pepper-mill as a "Rubirosa"…

Nana once told me a story of a particular North Shore artist who was hired by some of the better families to depict what their childrens' offspring might look like should they marry a certain eligible partner. The story went that more than one love match had the kibosh put on it when the depictions were less than flattering...

I guess when one tires of breeding horses...

Security word - puzedish: violet cuisine.

Anonymous said...

LGB,
Nughty, naughty. Rubirosa. I knew that..thats some list of ladies he wed.

An Aesthete's Lament said...

Ah, yes, Rubirosa, aka Toujours Prêt.

ChipSF said...

A few comments re: Frederick Guest:
Notice the Hon. before his name; he was a son of the 1st Baron Wimborne and a grandson of the 7th Duke of Marlborough. Won a bronze medal at the 1924 Olympic games as a member of the British polo team. Secretary and good friend to his cousin Winston Churchill. Married the great American Heiress Amy Phipps, daughter of Henry Phipps.