Dedicated to the preservation of Long Island's 'gold coast' estates and other things old.
Friday, January 7, 2011
The 'Laurelton Hall' Smokestack
The former smokestack to the power house of 'Laurelton Hall', the Louis Comfort Tiffany estate designed by and for himself c. 1904 in Laurel Hollow. This is one of the few remaining ruins of the house. Click HERE for more on 'Laurelton Hall'.
how out of place does that look in a "NORMAL" neighborhood instead of the fairyland that Tiffany created. If you haven't read the Laurelton Hall book, you need to pick it up. not cheap but an amazing work ($27 on amazon). talk about a synergistic estate. this placed was planned to the nth degree. the guy who bought the vandalized pre-fire remains paid $10K. luckily, many of the remaining artifacts were salvaged after the fire in 1957 by a tiffany daughter and are in the Hosmer museum in florida and in several other musuems but, what a loss.
security word def - "marsty" - what Mar A Lago would have become if Trump hadn't or had taken over.(opinions differ)
The Metropolitan Museum in New York had a Laurelton Hall exhibit several years ago including not only its extensive collection of Laurelton artifacts, but also many items on loan from other museums and collectors. It was truly spectacular, and even if Tiffany's work is not to your taste (as it is not to mine), it was hard not to be impressed by his inventiveness, originality and sheer exuberance. I remember especially the capitals from the "daffodil terrace", which I had assumed from photographs must have been awful. In "the flesh" they were charming. And this went for pretty much everything in the exhibit.
A friend who grew up in Laurel Hollow remembers the fire, and the eerie sounds, well. The whole place is so amazing---as was the exhibit at the Met. What a loss. And how wild to find a minaret
the tiffany daughter contacted the guy from the morse museum after the fire as workmen were dragging extant windows and such away from the remains and just stacking them around the yard. she doesn't say it in the book but it sounds like a lot of stuff survived the fire but was lost in the demolition of the remains. re anonymous: the guy that bought it for cheap lived in california and only visited it rarely and so it was vandalized after the foundation gave it up and finally set on fire in 57. the chapel was saved and the interior is in the morse museum. and if you go on bing you can see the little piece of the walkway (originally covered that led from the house to the aviary. a part of the farm buildings is now a private residence and some bozo who replied to zach's original post said he owned one of the houses built on the property and bragged that he thought one of the fountains was buried "somewhere behind his house" it says in the book that the servants quarters, which were huge and in the style of the house, survived the fire but burned later. i can't find any info on this - does anyone know about that?
security word def - "desepda" - colloquial southern terms referring to a dastardly villain who destroys a womans virtue and departs.
Why are all of the remaining artifacts from the Tiffany Studios of Oyster Bay in a museum in Florida? I went to the retrospective at the Met a while ago and saw them there. How did Long Island ever let these masterworks of glass escape?
Long Island was not, and still is not much on preservation of anything. If only the powers that be had enough foresight, (and lacked the greed),....Long Island,both the North and South Shores truely could have been an attraction that surpassed Newport, Monte Carlo, Palm Beach or Bel air.
People seem to forget, but it was not only the Gold Coast that boasted grand homes and estates....Queens county has some spectacular mansions as well as the South Shore. Things could have been planned much more in taste and with keeping the integrity, and the respect of the great artisians that created much of what was Long Island.
Part of LI's problem is we started out with so much more than just about anywhere else and a lot of properties were just too big/expensive for modern use. I say this as someone who has been obsessive and incurably romantic about these places for many decades. Regarding Tiffany, the Peacock Tower and a few cottages still exist on and near Ridge Road. The stone gate entrances still exist on Ridge Road and Tiffany Road as does the stable group. While I have many favorites, I think Laurelton Hall is at the top mostly because of the uniqueness, scale and detail and.... there is just something about it that seems so transcendent.
TPR, thank you for the tip on the book, "Louis Comfort Tiffany and Laurelton Hall." Borrowed it from my library, and it is magnificent. If there were ever a case for time travel, one of the first places I'd stop by would be Laurelton.
16 comments:
how out of place does that look in a "NORMAL" neighborhood instead of the fairyland that Tiffany created. If you haven't read the Laurelton Hall book, you need to pick it up. not cheap but an amazing work ($27 on amazon). talk about a synergistic estate. this placed was planned to the nth degree. the guy who bought the vandalized pre-fire remains paid $10K. luckily, many of the remaining artifacts were salvaged after the fire in 1957 by a tiffany daughter and are in the Hosmer museum in florida and in several other musuems but, what a loss.
security word def - "marsty" - what Mar A Lago would have become if Trump hadn't or had taken over.(opinions differ)
The Metropolitan Museum in New York had a Laurelton Hall exhibit several years ago including not only its extensive collection of Laurelton artifacts, but also many items on loan from other museums and collectors. It was truly spectacular, and even if Tiffany's work is not to your taste (as it is not to mine), it was hard not to be impressed by his inventiveness, originality and sheer exuberance. I remember especially the capitals from the "daffodil terrace", which I had assumed from photographs must have been awful. In "the flesh" they were charming. And this went for pretty much everything in the exhibit.
A fragment of the loggia of Laurelton Hall was incorporated into the courtyard of the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=40.8729897&lon=-73.4821951&z=19&l=0&m=b&show=/2091710/Laurelton-Hall-Powerhouse-Smokestack
So the story goes... decades ago a helicopter was seen hovering near the stack as someone{suspended?} pilfered the glass and tile.
New galleries dedicated to Laurelton Hall opens in Febuary at the Morse Museum in Orlando,Fl.
http://www.morsemuseum.org/
I also recall someone saying there were Tiffany designed fire hydrants in the area that still survive from Laurelton Hall.
I'm confused about the timeline.
When the foundation sold the property in 1949, had it already been vandalized?
A friend who grew up in Laurel Hollow remembers the fire, and the eerie sounds, well. The whole place is so amazing---as was the exhibit at the Met. What a loss. And how wild to find a minaret
If anyone has access to the New York Times Historical. Check out March 8, 1957, page 27. There is a story about the fire with a picture.
the tiffany daughter contacted the guy from the morse museum after the fire as workmen were dragging extant windows and such away from the remains and just stacking them around the yard. she doesn't say it in the book but it sounds like a lot of stuff survived the fire but was lost in the demolition of the remains.
re anonymous: the guy that bought it for cheap lived in california and only visited it rarely and so it was vandalized after the foundation gave it up and finally set on fire in 57. the chapel was saved and the interior is in the morse museum. and if you go on bing you can see the little piece of the walkway (originally covered that led from the house to the aviary. a part of the farm buildings is now a private residence and some bozo who replied to zach's original post said he owned one of the houses built on the property and bragged that he thought one of the fountains was buried "somewhere behind his house"
it says in the book that the servants quarters, which were huge and in the style of the house, survived the fire but burned later. i can't find any info on this - does anyone know about that?
security word def - "desepda" - colloquial southern terms referring to a dastardly villain who destroys a womans virtue and departs.
According to the book referenced by TPR a stone water tower exists somewhere in the area. I've yet to find it, anyone know where its located?
Why are all of the remaining artifacts from the Tiffany Studios of Oyster Bay in a museum in Florida? I went to the retrospective at the Met a while ago and saw them there. How did Long Island ever let these masterworks of glass escape?
Where was the powerhouse?
Long Island was not, and still is not much on preservation of anything. If only the powers that be had enough foresight, (and lacked the greed),....Long Island,both the North and South Shores truely could have been an attraction that surpassed Newport, Monte Carlo, Palm Beach or Bel air.
People seem to forget, but it was not only the Gold Coast that boasted grand homes and estates....Queens county has some spectacular mansions as well as the South Shore. Things could have been planned much more in taste and with keeping the integrity, and the respect of the great artisians that created much of what was Long Island.
Circumstantial.Change.
Part of LI's problem is we started out with so much more than just about anywhere else and a lot of properties were just too big/expensive for modern use. I say this as someone who has been obsessive and incurably romantic about these places for many decades. Regarding Tiffany, the Peacock Tower and a few cottages still exist on and near Ridge Road. The stone gate entrances still exist on Ridge Road and Tiffany Road as does the stable group. While I have many favorites, I think Laurelton Hall is at the top mostly because of the uniqueness, scale and detail and.... there is just something about it that seems so transcendent.
J
Does anyone know how many square feet Laurelton Hall was? It looks huge!
TPR, thank you for the tip on the book, "Louis Comfort Tiffany and Laurelton Hall." Borrowed it from my library, and it is magnificent. If there were ever a case for time travel, one of the first places I'd stop by would be Laurelton.
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