Friday, January 14, 2011

Putting a Face to an Estate 9

Mrs. Arthur Scott Burden (nee Cynthia Burke-Roche, later Mrs. Guy Fairfax Cary). Below, her estate 'Oak Hill' designed by John Russell Pope c. 1915 in Brookville. Click HERE for more on 'Oak Hill'.


11 comments:

An Aesthete's Lament said...

Cynthia Burke-Roche's brother Lord Fermoy was the great-grandfather of Diana, Princess of Wales. As for Cynthia, her great-grandson include actor Oliver Platt and New York magazine's restaurant critic Adam Platt. (And that dress is hideous.) I've always liked the Burden house, though it does look like a stage set.

Ray Spinzia said...

In reference to Burke-Roche's lineage -

Cynthia Burke-Roche was the granddaughter of Frank and Ellen Wood Work. Ellen Wood Work was the heiress to a modest Chillicothe, Ohio, pork-packing fortune while Frank was a New York City dry-goods merchant turned financier, who had amassed a fortune valued at $15 million as Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt's stockbroker. Cynthia's mother, the former Frances Work, married James Boothby Burke-Roche, the Third Lord Fermoy of Sandringham, England, in 1880. Frances' second marriage to Aurel Batonyi, a Hungarian horse trainer, ended in divorce. The Burke-Roche's son Edmund Maurice Burke-Roche became the Fourth Lord of Fermoy. His daughter Ruth married Earl Spencer. The Spencer's daughter Diana became Princess of Wales in 1981. Princess Diana was, therefore, Cynthia Burke-Roche's grandniece. Diana's middle name was Frances, after her American great-grandmother.

Ironically, Frank Work disliked the idea of American heiresses marrying European nobility. His will stipulated that the Burke-Roche grandsons would be disinherited if they didn't come to the United States, become United States citizens, and take the surname of Work. It also stipulated that his granddaughter Cynthia Burke-Roche was to marry a United States citizen and not return to Great Britain during the lifetime of her father. The grandsons were disinherited; she inherited the fortune.

The Down East Dilettante said...

Fascinating tale. For a more modern photograph of Mrs. Cary with pink parsol, and much the same stance, follow this link (you will have to scroll up, as it doesn not land perfectly on the page. The entire article is interesting too

http://books.google.com/books?id=000EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA79&dq=guy+fairfax+cary&hl=en&ei=93wwTcznD8L7lwflrY2zCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=guy%20fairfax%20cary&f=false

Jeff said...

I. love. this. house. (periods inserted for dramatic effect)

HalfPuddingHalfSauce said...

If you compare the two photos of Burden to me it looks like she recycled the dress and used the hat for the parasol.

HalfPuddingHalfSauce said...

Anyone recognize the building in the background at Newport?

ChipSF said...

HPHS -
I am going to opt for Rockhurst, the H. Mortimer Brooks cottage.

http://www.newportmansions.org/page9648.cfm

Anonymous said...

I thought it was the Casino.

ChipSF said...

Anon 7:42
The Casino is definitely a possibility given the ivy and the people wandering around. The curve of that driveway to the ivy covered porte cochere is not like anything at the Casino but does bear a resemblance to Rockhurst.

The Down East Dilettante said...

The building in the background is not Rockhurst. Very definitely the Casino. The curving 'driveway' is known as The Horseshoe, here shown before it was railed off so that guy couldn't walk on the grass. A quick google image check of vintage images will show plenty of views of the casino with ivy, and you'll find that the windows all line up correctly.

Anonymous said...

It's the casino. See Michael Kathrens "Newport Villas- The Revival Styles, 1885-1935",page 38.