Monday, August 15, 2011
'The Box'
'The Box', the Harvey S. Ladew estate, a 1780 colonial enlarged by James O'Connor c. 1917 in Upper Brookville. Click HERE for more on 'The Box'. The house and 2 acres is currently for sale for $2,599,000, click HERE to see the listing via Daniel Gale Sotheby's. Click HERE to see 'The Box' on google earth and HERE on bing.
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Brookville,
James O'Connor
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10 comments:
Looking at the real estate ad, it is interesting to see how popular taste in interior decoration can remain consistent without economic boundaries, from mobile home to mansion.
@Devoted: I guess it just proves that not all people with money are rich. And on the flip side of that same coin, not all people without money are poor... Charming house though, if a little "yawn".
Despite its current ghastly interiors,I have always loved this house and esp. that Wolver Hollow corridor of unique buildings..There is a lot of history there ; in that locale.
Those windows in the new wing, with their badly shaped arched tops, are one of the bad cliches of the last two decades. The architect should be ashamed.
Overall I think it’s still a good looking house on the exterior. I also like the row of outbuildings that remain pretty much as-was – I’m sure there has been temptation over the years to demolish & build new. Too bad the garden in the walled area has been replaced with only lawn, especially since the newer addition containing the country kitchen & master bedroom above it face directly into that space.
I’m glad to see the interior photos because it confirms that what is now used as the front door opens directly into what is still the dining room (the original front door was on the long porch & there’s not even a walkway to it now). I wonder why they abandoned the original front door? With that long dining table in the country kitchen set-up I doubt the dining room is ever used … odd, but it’s their house. On a positive note it appears the door to the half bath that had opened directly into the dining room has been moved, probably into the hallway when the addition was built. The dark wood doors have been painted white – just an observation.
DFP I don't actually think the main entrance changed from the original James O'Connor plan...I think the door to the porch facing the road was likely the main entrance to the original 1700's house but the 1917 plan in the older post on this house shows the only access to that door is by a long path starting at the road or by actually having to walk past the dining room door and around the breakfast alcove. The dining room door is the most logical point of entry from the drive and the room was planned to host hunt breakfast so it would also make sense to want easy access to the stables.
Anon 10:32AM, I appreciate your response & insight but believe what you said actually supports what I said – in 1917 there was a direct path from the road to the porch & a side path coming around from the service side of the house connecting to the porch; to me that makes the porch where the front door is, the door a stranger would go to. I agree it’s likely not the door most frequently used even in 1917 but now to a stranger it doesn’t look like a front door option at all & it could easily have been because the distance from the drive to either door is roughly the same; it’s just a matter of where you choose to put the brick path. I still wonder why they abandoned the front door but you’ve help explain that one reason could have been because it was wasn’t being used.
Another observation: the bookcases flanking the fireplace in the living room have been removed & replaced with windows; but from what I can understand those windows look straight into the solid wall of the new addition less than ten feet away. I would have left the bookcases & wonder if this isn't the result of two different remodeling projects.
DFP why would anyone park their car on Wolver Hollow Rd to walk all the way up that little brick path instead of entering through the gate and parking in the court where there's a direct path to the dining room entrance about half the distance of the one leading all the way down to the road? I'm sure the porch door was the main entrance to the 1780's house but the 1917 renovation reoriented the main entrance to the side facing the stables and entry court which is why you have nothing more than a narrow walkway leading up to the porch door in the original plan. The paths removal just proves the point that it was never really used and was more ornamental than anything.
Anon 10:32
I believe the most effective way to resolve the issue of the front door would be to install an asphalt forecourt with a geometric centerpiece anchored by a fountain tucked neatly between the road and the original front door that faces it. LOL. The most recent addition should have been handled with far better scale, detailing and expression of form. Otherwise it is a very charming house and compassion of structures.
I meant to say composition of structures.
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