'Whispering Pines', the Francis Draz estate in Far Rockaway. Draz was the president of Francis Draz & Company, wine merchants. Click HERE to see a picture from Shorpy of a Francis Draz & Co. store from 1906. If anyone has any additional information on the house please share.
Photos from American Country Houses of Today, 1917.
17 comments:
I notice no architect is credited for this house & wonder if Francis Draz didn’t design it himself after sampling a wine shipment. It looks like they took a big, square block of a house & stuck various attachments on like a ‘Mr. Potato Head' (obviously my opinion). The floor plan isn’t that impressive & the stairs look like someone is about to stage a production of 'Showboat.' The dining room is … okay (is ‘MEH’ the correct term?). Zach, if you find additional information on this house I hope it includes a major remodel.
Not sure how I feel about the exterior, but I rather like the staircase.
http://www.farrockaway.com/carol/fr1920whisperpinesad.jpg
There's a boarded-up building on Point Breeze Place to the northeast of its intersection with Mott Ave which *might* be an old carriage house associated with Whispering Pines. It can be seen via Google street view.
Here's a link to a story about that building. It doesn't say anything about when it was built, just that it was later known as "Sunset Lodge."
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/culture/2011/04/1769288/back-nature-house-park-end-bayswater
Here's something about the immediate neighborhood, and a tear-down that shouldn't have happened:
http://www.farrockaway.com/carol/Bayswater_Mansion_&_Park.html
Sad,sad story.I've always associated Far Rockaway with junkies and hookers...I'm surprised to find it was at one time a major estate area.
Boy Doug, you sure hit the nail on the head ––– Showboat is the very first thing that sprang to mind when I saw that staircase; followed shortly thereafter by a quote from The Women, when the character Edith Potter opines, "I hate this dress; my husband always says I look as if I'm about to sing in it."
The Rockaways have always been NYC's poor stepchild; having a year round, unimpeded ocean view does not make up for being under the direct flightpath of JFK.
Security word - gogstict: wound accidentally inflicted during a frog gigging marathon.
Me too, showboat, first thought, then the Martin place and its stairs - http://www.oldlongisland.com/2010/06/martin-hall.html
Zach, Magnus, LGB, The Ancient, Anonymous's etc - any interest in a casual get together aka Friends of LIGC? As mentioned in Fridays post over the weekend "I would love to get together with the locals that visit OLI...there used to be a site...if I recall, was called "Gold Coast Long Island'
that would meet to visit ruins or public mansions....but I don't think anyone that visits here is intrested...though it would be nice, I could use some kindred spirits at this time......" No one that visit this site would be interested??? Come on! I believe the gentlemen's name was Warren. His website has sort of fallen of the radar since OLI came around.
http://www.ligoldcoast.com/
The forum was not as active as OLI but it was the first.
"Breezy Point" still standing -
http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=1.07365637934178E-05&lat=40.6121292952164&lon=-73.7706551880217&year=1954
HPHS...that's the site!! I used to visit there often, then as you said, it sort of faded. I'm up for a get together (though not this weekend...my god-daughters graduation, and on the same night as Old Westbury's "Midsummer's Night"!!)Just pick a date and time...if during a weekday...give a heads-up, will have to take a vacation day,as I'm sure would many of us here. Maybe we could do a group tour of Oheka (I think it's $25 a head), or Inisfada ( I think you have to call ahead for group tours). Sounds fun....
The design of Whispering Pines has been credited to architect Stanford White, but I believe it's actually the work of Stanford's mentally challenged, younger brother, Arizona State White.
Another White-attributed design that most probably isn't; if the man did as many houses as he was purported to, he'd still be chained to his drafting table, churning out clapboard monstrosities...he may have had some clunkers, but I can't believe this is one of them.
I'm always up for a group...
;-)
But seriously, I wouldn't say no to meeting some like minded "Island Boys" (and girls) as it were; Long Island has such a rich architectural & social history.
Here's a Bing view of the intersection of Mott Ave and Point Breeze Place in Far Rockaway: http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qs1sbr8vk756&lvl=19.18660038828173&dir=0.4437141737074968&sty=b&where1=Mott%20Ave%20%26%20Point%20Breeze%20Pl%2C%20Far%20Rockaway%2C%20NY%2011691&q=Mott%20Avenue%20and%20Point%20Breeze%20Place%2C%20Far%20Rockaway%2C%20New%20York&form=LMLTCC You can see the house Ancient referred to in the northeast corner. You guys enjoy yourselves if you group up to go on historic home tours – remember, there is nothing on those estates that needs your initials carved in it (joke).
I looked at HPHS’s link to Historic Aerials of when ‘Breezy Point’ was still standing (thank you HPHS) & then went to Bing & was a little surprised to find you can still see part of the footprint of the demolished mansion: http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qs1ttb8vk0zr&lvl=19.206779159478568&dir=0.44371172009954607&sty=b&where1=Mott%20Ave%20%26%20Point%20Breeze%20Pl%2C%20Far%20Rockaway%2C%20NY%2011691&q=Mott%20Ave%20%26%20Point%20Breeze%20Pl%2C%20Far%20Rockaway%2C%20NY%2011691&form=LMLTCC (especially if you rotate the angle to when the grass is green). ‘Breezy Point’ must have been a good name for it – it must have once been great to spend your summers there.
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=40.6125231&lon=-73.769567&z=19&l=0&m=b&show=/20310602/Sunset-Lodge
Not the "Whispering Pines" gatehouse but a summer hotel. However Whispering Pines was its neighbor standing at the corner of Mott and Breezy Point Place. Highlight the old photo - you can compare the window seen in the background to the Google Street View - the same! HistoricMapWorks confirms.
I believe the architect was Palmer, Hornbostel and Jones
Post a Comment