'
Beaver Brook Farm', the
Henry Lewis Batterman Sr. estate designed by
Harrie Lindeberg c. 1914 in
Mill Neck with landscaping by the
Olmsted Brothers. Batterman was vice-president of the
H. Batterman Department Store which became
Frederick Loeser & Co. in 1909 after Batterman sold out. He was also a nationally known breeder of Guernsey cattle which eventually became a milk business that served the estates on the North Shore. The estate was demolished c. 1950 but click
HERE to see where '
Beaver Brook Farm' stood on google earth.
'Beaver Brook Farm', the Henry Lewis Batterman Sr. estate designed by Harrie Lindeberg c. 1914 in Mill Neck with landscaping by the Olmsted Brothers. Batterman was vice-president of the H. Batterman Department Store which became Frederick Loeser & Co. in 1909 after Batterman sold out. He was also a nationally known breeder of Guernsey cattle which eventually became a milk business that served the estates on the North Shore. The estate was demolished c. 1950 but click HERE to see where 'Beaver Brook Farm' stood on google earth.
Photos from Architecture, 1915.
17 comments:
Great find on a lost estate.
I've always thought that the entrance looks a little public, as if it belongs on a little Episcopal church or the like. But, a very progressive design overall---the Edwardian sensibility is getting blown out the window here, and the lighter and more correct detailing and restraint of the 20s and 30s are arriving. Dining room would be equally plausible if it was dated 1938, not 1915. (And I want those chairs)
I don’t like ‘Beaver Brook Farm.’
• I agree the entrance looks more commercial than residential.
• On the back side the two porticos look as if they were not very sympathetically stuck on later; this is especially illustrated in the picture where the photographer is standing right next to the small pool.
• The sun rooms inside the porticos look as if they were added even later and were designed by a different architect.
• I understand the attraction of an open floor plan but usually don’t favor such plans on a house like this where the only way to get from one room to another is to go through rooms. This was especially true for the servants in this house, who could not get from the service wing to most any ground floor public room (or the front door) without going through the dining room.
• Since I’m already irritated by so many other things in this house I’m also irritated by the fact that after you walk down five steps to get into the great room (which has a great ceiling & paneling), turn left to go into the dining room, & then have to walk up two steps to get to the windows.
But I also really like the dining room chairs. The dining table appears to be on casters … can this be correct?
What a shame...what replaced this beauty? It looks as if nothing was built on this site.
South of the caretakers dwelling overlooking Upper Francis Pond is where the house stood. New home built in 1957. North{not yet mapped} are the farm buildings remaining from the estate. Links to Bing and daughters home at the caretakers dwelling tag at wikimapia.
I always thought that this home was demolished by William Levitt, of Levittown fame, when he purchased the estate, but didnt like the mansion. He supposedly wanted a French styled home for his collection of antiques and this place while in great condition, was demolished. I think La Colline sits on part of the former estate
Doug, yes, castors are the norm on dining tables---the easier to pull out for the leaves, or move for dancing. As for the raised dias in the dining room---adds drama and movement to the room, not at all untypical.
The double portico wings were a very popular design motif in the early 20th century---I did a post about them a while back, the pictures, including E.D. Morgan's summer house, might interest you:
http://www.victoriamansion.org/
oops, wrong link, from something I was sending someone in an email. Here's the correct one:
http://thedowneastdilettante.blogspot.com/2010/06/intermission-double-your-pleasure.html
An unusual floor plan! Thanks for including, Zach.
DED, thank you for the link (actually for both links). The double porticos in your blog are well done & I noted those porticos have:
1) roof lines which are not subordinate to the roof line of the house, &
2) windows in the pediments.
Both of these features help make those double porticos look like something originally intended for the house & not something tacked on later, as they do in 'Beaver Brook Farm." (my opinion)
Thanks for verifying the castors -- I just wasn't certain. As for having small stacks of stairs here & there in any house -- as I age I am less impressed with something like this which could easily create a different kind of drama (yet I know no one thought twice about it when the house was designed).
DFP --
In my house in the country, people get lost -- because the house grew bit by bit over centuries, the stairs and corridors turn ever which way on many different levels. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
Dilettante --
I reread your old post on double porticoes and finally remembered why they make me profoundly queasy:
http://www.aoc.gov/cc/capitol/images/capitol_east_1.jpg
Ancient..the White House is an amazing piece of architecture...don't let all the A@#Ho*?s that resided there cloud your judgement...they're all crooks and scoundrel's, don't let a one of them fool you....
My dear Anon 9:42 --
It's the East Front of the Capitol, not The White House.
Plus, of course, it was 1904 and Carrère and Hastings.
I'd love to see a picture of Ancient's house! How about it, Ancient?
Anon 3:58 --
I think the rule here is that you need to be entirely dead to merit inclusion. And I'm not there yet.
Ancient - Any chance of location info for a Richardson designed stable/garage located in the woods of NJ?
My grandfather was the caretaker from the mid 1920's until WWII broke out. He raised his family in the Gate House.Their 3 boys went to serve in the armed forces and my grandparents went to work at Republic in Farmingdale.
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