Thursday, July 21, 2011

'Planting Fields'


A spread from Town & Country magazine on 'Planting Fields', the William R. Coe estate designed by Walker & Gillette c. 1919 in Oyster Bay. Click HERE for more on 'Planting Fields'.




Article from Town & Country, 1921. Floorplans from Architectural Record, 1921.

12 comments:

Richard D said...

Ah, Coe Hall, one of my all-time favorites. Zach, are you ever going to publish a floor plan?

Zach L. said...

If I had one in my possession I would post it. Haven't come across one yet though.

The Down East Dilettante said...

Doug, floor plans in this 30 page article in Architectural Digest---you're gonna need to zoom

The Down East Dilettante said...

Oh, helps if I remember to paste in the link: http://books.google.com/books?id=uolMAAAAYAAJ&dq=coe%20walker%20and%20gillette&pg=PA195#v=onepage&q=coe%20walker%20and%20gillette&f=false

Zach L. said...

How on earth did I miss that one? Thanks as always DED.

The Ancient said...

Perhaps Marianne Howard, the Collections Manager, could be persuaded to post the plans on the foundation's website.

Architectural Study Team

Box #1
Source Book: Volume I, 10/4/78 Contents

Folder #1 Pages 1-14:
Forward by Charles Peterson

Section I:

“Portrait of William Robertson Coe”
Photo, “Portrait of William Robertson Coe”
“An Appreciation: William Robertson Coe (1869-1955)” by Charles Peterson
“Who’s Who in America, 1954-55”
“New York Social Register, 1955”
New York Times, 3/16/55, WRC Obituary
The Cody Enterprise, 10/1/66, Part of HHRC death notice.
“Coe Family” Immediate family tree, contributed by Paul Brenner, Esq.

Section II:

“Estate Buildings and Mansion Rooms Renumbered”

A. Buildings on Estate
“List of Buildings on Planting Fields Estate”
Map: “Planting Fields Estate: The Buildings Numbered, Map
excerpted from New York Department of Public Works,
Drawing 57/101, Dated 3/29/57, Revised 5/3/62, 9/78
T.R.H.

B. “Rooms in Mansion”
Floor plan: “The W. R. Coe Residence: First Floor Rooms
Numbered” 9/78 T.R.H.
Floor plan: “The W. R. Coe Residence: Second Floor Rooms
Numbered” 9/78 T.R.H.

Doug Floor Plan said...

Thanks DED, I did indeed zoom ... & sent what I was able to capture to Zach for him to either use or not (it's a little blurry because I enlarged it so much). The second story floor plan seems off because it shows bedrooms where there is open space in the two-story high gallery.

lil' gay boy said...

Doug, the plans are correct; if you've ever taken the house tour, you'd be able to see that those bedrooms are off a gallery one has to step up to; it runs along the main hall on that floor.

As this was close to my apartment, I remained a regular member and considered it my back yard during most of the year ––– as well as during the holidays.

magnus said...

I remember reading that during the Depression, the Coes were so rattled by a burglar who broke into one of the master bedrooms that they moved to the nursery rooms- as if the burglary was not an isolated incident but an omen of things to come. One reads a great deal about conditions during the Depression, but this more than almost anything speaks to the fear that many of the very rich felt at the time- that they were a class under siege, not only from "That Man in the White House" who was taxing them to what they felt was oblivion, but from the vast, unwashed masses.

The Ancient said...

magnus --

My older relatives always pointed to the Lindbergh kidnapping as the reason for the sudden rush to bars on the nursery windows and a broader ramp-up in security.

(And "That Dreadful Man in The White House" did tax many of them to oblivion, or close enough.)

Anonymous said...

Well...now that "That Dreadful Man in The White House" is taxing all of us into oblivion...it's not a fate of only the rich anymore....soon there will be no middle-class left....

The Ancient said...

Anon 7:07 --

One of my older relations suffered from polio, as did FDR, who knew the boy's father well. When he surmounted his affliction sufficiently to win a scholastic sports event, Roosevelt sent his father a telegram: "This country needs more [Name]." His father, who had known FDR since college, and who was completely devoid of any sense of humor, telegraphed back, "Franklin, if there were more [Name], you wouldn't be where you are today."

I have copies of both telegrams in the downstairs guest bathroom in the country. They occasionally provoke riots.