Wednesday, March 2, 2011

The Sarah Gardiner Residence

The Sarah Diodati Gardiner residence designed by Wyeth & King c. 1941 in East Hampton. Gardiner built the home on land that had been in her family for generations, on the western side of Main Street. I believe the house replaced the family's 'White House', which was mentioned in a '39 NYTimes article as set to be either renovated or torn down to be replaced by "a more modern house". Sarah Gardiner purchased Gardiner's Island in 1937, preventing it from being foreclosed upon after a series of deals with other members of her family. Click HERE to see the Gardiner residence on google earth and HERE on bing.




Photos from the Library of Congress.

24 comments:

The Down East Dilettante said...

Handsome place---not looking as menacing as it did when the old man was alive. I've always liked the place to the northeast. Interesting to compare the shift in scale between the two.

Robert David Lion Gardiner last 'Lord' of Gardiner's Manor, married the former daughter-in-law of Sir Harry Oakes. I'd forgotten all about the Slim Aaron's photos of the pair til Zach did this post and it sent me, curious, off to google. Here's what I found:

http://www.historicallyvintage.com/2010/10/gardiners-island.html

Doug Floor Plan said...

A good looking house & apparently currently under renovation -- let's hope the current owners are fans of Zach's site & can see what once was (psst ... & could be again). I noticed the wrought iron work & wooden shutters are missing, hopefully being rejuvenated somewhere & not lost long ago.

Zach L. said...

The house is currently for sale, I am planning on making that a post very soon...pics included.

The Down East Dilettante said...

PS, personal note--when I first saw those photos, as a lad, I thought, ewww, such old people with such nice stuff...now, suddenly, a mere 35 years later they look like slightly younger contemporaries...sigh.

Doug Floor Plan said...

Thank you for saying that nicely Zach; about 30 seconds after I published I realized those Bing photos were not taken yesterday -- but I'm glad ... I don't normally look like an idiot until the second or third week of a month but for March I can cross 'idiot' off my list on the 2nd.

La Petite Gallery said...

That is just a lovely home. yvonne
stop over some time.

Zach L. said...

For anyone who likes milestones...this was the 300th house featured on Old Long Island.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations Zach.

I most likely have the numbers wrong, but I remember reading somewhere that there are about 500 estates left of nearly 1800 or so on Long Island. So with that, (and if I'm not that far off with the numbers), we have 200 or so more homes to look forward too.

Gary Lawrance said...

If your looking for the Life Magazine story about the " Wild Party" at the Wanamaker
estate in Southampton. Its Sept 20,1963. Do a Google book search or just Google,
Life Magazine 1963 Wanamaker Debut. The ball was held at the Westerly estate now owned by Tory Burch, but the after party was held at a house on the ocean called Ocean Castle.

lil' gay boy said...

Sorry to jump the gun, but I know I can't compete with Zach's encyclopedic knowledge so I won't be spoiling his next post on this house; for those of you who think moderation is for monks, the sales listing (with photos) is here.

Cannot say that I like the finish of the exterior; it's hard to determine from the earlier photos as to whether or not there's a whitewash on it or not, but the exposed stone it's now sporting doesn't seem to be in keeping with the whole package (although it appears that some whitewash remains on the walls facing the back terrace). Either way, it's no "Garden State Brickface" type of finish ––– the artistry is apparent in the sales photos; I guess I'm disappointed as the original finish seems more "Hamptons" to me.

I would kill for that swimming pool setup, though; it reminds me somewhat of the "Ghost Walk" at Old Westbury Gardens, only with a secluded pool at the end of this one ––– lovely. I am, however, not having any luck accessing Suffolk County's tax records; is the garage original to the house or a later construction?

I remember hearing a lot of stories about Robert David Lion Gardiner growing up, and how it was suspected, especially during the adoption, that he "batted" for my team (he'd often be spotted "where the boys are" –– different gay establishments on the East End). Who cares? As long as the island stays in the family (unless one of them wants to adopt me...)

Security word - ephedup: colloquialism for disgust; "...ephedup and went 'ome..."

lil' gay boy said...

MOGA, I came across that last night; a picture of the still-extant Ladd Residence, Ocean Castle, can be seen here.

The Devoted Classicist said...

I know I am in the minority, but I have to say that I much prefer the whitewashed stone in the vintage photos compared to the almost bare stone today. In this case, the same color value for the stone and the stucco make for a more cohesive appearance for the house.

Anonymous said...

I agree Devoted Classicist, and I loved bare stone, but some homes lose something when the whitewash is stripped away, and this is one of those homes.

The Down East Dilettante said...

Make that three votes for the whitewashed stone

lil' gay boy said...

Um, hello? I believe I requested whitewash, please.

HalfPuddingHalfSauce said...

Ocean Castle - http://wikimapia.org/#lat=40.8581458&lon=-72.4252814&z=18&l=0&m=b&show=/18455640/Ocean-Castle

The Down East Dilettante said...

sorry LGB, make that four! Whitewash party at the Gardiner's!

The Ancient said...

Those articles in Life are a hoot, and a reminder -- if one is needed -- why there are nowadays very few people who call themselves "psychoanalysts."

(Somebody needs to send this thread over to The Trad or ADG -- if only for the pictures.)

sec word: ferysts -- Trysts for ferrets.

commentator8 said...

I love how the land between the motor court and the street at Ocean Castle is unlandscaped and still essentially a dune. Very charming, and gives a vacation feeling to the beach house.

Is it just me, or does anyone else get annoyed when homes are called "castles" when in reality they are just large mansions. A castle seems to be a pretty specific type of building in Europe that was originally intended to be a fortress. Details, unfortunately, get to me sometimes. It's the same as when people refer to 4,000 SF homes as "mansions."

Finally, while I agree the home looks better whitewashed, the natural stone finish combined with the red tile roof does give it an authentic Italian countryside villa sort of look, which isn't bad.

The Down East Dilettante said...

Yes Commentator8, the tendency to tack castle onto the name of big houses nowadays, along with the tendency to put 'the' before the names, just drives me BONKERS. (although in the case of Ocean Castle, I think that actually is the name---but Oheka 'Castle', when it should properly be just called Oheka, etc. ---fingernails on a black board to me.

Historically Vintage said...

Hi All! I was pleasantly surprised to see that my blog was referenced at the top of the page in regard to the Gardiner Estate in Southampton. I also had posted in October about the property being up for sale. You can find that here: http://www.historicallyvintage.com/2010/10/gardiners-east-hampton-home-for-sale.html
Come by and take a peak when you have the chance. The current owner actually contacted ME to find out more information shortly after I posted. I had NOTHING for him! ;0)
LOVE this blog and visit often! Thanks! Annmarie

The Down East Dilettante said...

Vintage Girl,

It was I who posted the link to your terrific post---but I just tried the link you gave us for the other post, and it comes up empty---did you leave out something?

Historically Vintage said...

Hmmm, just did a copy and paste so not sure what I could have done wrong. Let me try this again!

http://www.historicallyvintage.com/2010/10/gardiners-east-hampton-home-for-sale.html

Looks the same to me! hmph!

Turner Pack Rats said...

i'm joining the whitewash crowd as i looked at the original photos and thought - sure, its a mizner - he's only been dead for 20 years. it worked for stanford white.
also, i looked at the reno pix and altho i know this is a fairly new house, it really can't have been that ugly inside could it - could it? come on reassure me.

all you anti-castle wa-wa types need to take a couple of hours perusing the dupontcastle website proving that those with a strong back, a weak mind, and a huge pocketbook are still out there in the us of a building semi-authentic castles. interesting site anyway.

security word def- "skeer" - what you think you are until you're standing on the top of the Black Double Diamond slope skeered to hell.