Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Putting a Face to an Estate 11

Colgate Hoyt and wife. Below, his estate 'Eastover' designed by Renwick, Aspinwall & Owen c. 1891 on Centre Island. Click HERE for more on 'Eastover'. The photo is dated c. 1910 in the Library of Congress which makes it difficult to determine which wife this was. Hoyt's first wife died in 1908 (Lida Sherman) and he didn't remarry until 1912 (Katherine Sharp).


16 comments:

magnus said...

Zach:

I can't tell you how I enjoy this series of faces and places. Do any of your devoted readers know about women's fashions? That may be a way to get a closer date on the photo.

HalfPuddingHalfSauce said...

The wikipedia link shows Lida -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colgate_Hoyt

Hidden Delano and Aldrich - is it White Eagle/SPLIA or Whispering Laurels/Spinzia?

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=40.865416&lon=-73.4805429&z=17&l=0&m=b&show=/18662039/White-Eagle

Zach L. said...

HPHS...thanks for the link. I wonder why the LoC wasn't more specific.

HalfPuddingHalfSauce said...

The wifes seem accident prone - first one dies of injuries received when struck by a swinging door at a hotel in Richmond, Va. - the other falls down a elevator shaft.

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F60E13F83E5E1A738DDDA80B94D9405B828EF1D3

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=FA081FFA3E5B13738DDDAA0994DF405B838DF1D3

Turner Pack Rats said...

well, at least we know from the date that isn't the Titanic they're sitting on luckily for them.
also, another person that proves my point. here at home, i have a tube of toothpaste named Colgate but that lucky duck gets it as his name. nobody up here in the boondocks gets anything but bill or bob or hiram. the rich are different and lucky. they get all the good names.
thanx, zach, for the faces. i love this series and all of them match their estates. they all look so regal even that guy at the beach a couple days ago looked like he was at a dinner party instead of relaxing on the sand.
another beauty of a house gone. i know this was taken down a year after the depression started but why so early? the house was only 39 years old. we have house trailers here in maine older than that.

security word def - "surre" - a minimalist form of art based on dali's work in which not only are the objects in a picture exaggerated but most of them are left out. largely discredited work mainly by Kroppenheim (1940-1967). see works such as "White cat in snowstorm" and "Black panther at midnight" which were just black and white blank paper. he had a small artist colony for a couple of years in Meddybemps, Maine before the locals tar and feathered him and ran him out of town.

Anonymous said...

The Mrs's looks quite stern to say the least.

The Ancient said...

The Mrs's looks quite stern to say the least.

She's probably still miffed that her younger sister got all the looks:

http://www.book530.com/paintingpic/0922g/portrait-of-elizabeth-sherman-cameron.jpg

magnus said...

HPHS- Fascinating- two wives dying in "accidents". Coincidence or....

Zach: My guess is that the LoC houses many photo archives that came to them undated, and they had to use their best guess as to the date. And sometimes, the cataloger had clearly gotten to the task late in the day: During a search for something or other, I came across a photograph of women volunteers under a large World War I patriotic banner. The cataloger had dated the photo "1910".

magnus said...

Actually, it appears that the second wife survived her trip down the elevator shaft (20 foot fall), to whose door she had been directed by a maid at a house in which she was a guest. She must have been a game girl, as she grasped the elevator cable on her way down which softened her fall. Alas, I guess we can't suspect old Colgate any longer.

The Ancient said...

magnus --

Colgate was, nonetheless, what used to be called "a sharp operator."

(There's a story about him trying -- unsuccessfully - to get money for some project out of Rockefeller Sr. The old man thought Colgate was a bit of a crook. I suppose that might be considered praise, given the source.)

HalfPuddingHalfSauce said...

Out of the area but worth a look -

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=41.2166407&lon=-73.8974977&z=18&l=0&m=b&show=/18663560/1929-Mansion

No clue for who or by who. Certainly shows a Lindeberg quality. Anyone have insight? Noted for its Native American stenciling in the living room. Link to thelocationcompany for outside/inside photos.

Ray Spinzia said...

In reference to White Eagle / Whispering Laurels -

I'm not sure what you are referring to as "Hidden Delano and Aldrich." If you are referring to the Beverly Duer estate, you are absolutely correct. On page 134 SPLIA lists the name of the estate as White Eagle and places it in Syosset. I have, in my possession, an invitation to a SPLIA benefit at the estate which lists the estate's address as 1300 Ridge Road, Laurel Hollow, and states, "Whispering Laurels,' a c. 1929 country house in Laurel Hollow designed by the distinguished architectural firm of Delano and Aldrich for Mr. and Mrs. Beverly (Mary de Forest) Duer with grounds by the Olmstead Brothers, is the site of this year's benefit."

I guess you paid your $50 per person and picked the name and location of the estate that you like best as the Duers did not list a name for their estate in any of the over 100 Social Registers I have.

HalfPuddingHalfSauce said...

"Hidden" as in hiding in the woods.

The Pennoyer & Walker book on D/A lists the place as Whispering Laurel also. Surprisingly the photo used in that book came from SPLIA. Where did they get White Eagle then? I have the link to the SPLIA page you mentioned in the information tag at wikimapia. It shows a whitewashed building, much different then todays red brick.

Very charming looking house from the outside.

Ray Spinzia said...

In reference to White Eagle -

I have no idea where SPLIA got White Eagle for the Duer estate. The only White Eagle I have in my North Shore books is Alfred Irenee du Pont's Brookville estate. When I gave a name for an estate, my primary choice for estate name verification was the Social Register since that's what the owner submitted as the estate's name.

Anonymous said...

"Link to thelocationcompany......."

Good LORD!

Now I'll never get up from this chair. Went to the home page, clicked one or two links and have been sitting here on my bottom ever since, riveted. Started with farms and barns...

Know more said...

old feeling, looks like some black and white painting.

http://www.thebuyart.com/27-abstract-oil-painting-