Dedicated to the preservation of Long Island's 'gold coast' estates and other things old.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
'Cedarcroft'
'Cedarcroft', the Arthur W. Rossiter Sr. estate designed by Albro & Lindeberg c. 1906 in Glen Cove. Click HERE for more on 'Cedarcroft'. Click HERE to see 'Cedarcroft' of google earth and HERE on bing.
If you can, get yourself a copy of American Homes of Today, 1915 from which Zach's previous photos of Cedarcroft came. Its turgid, overblown prose (of which Ancient quotes a small bit above)is at once a hoot and a warning about the danger of trying to fill up too much space with words, and of consulting your thesaurus too frequently.
I have always loved this house. it was owned for many years by Bouvier Beale, son of "Big Edie" of Gray Gardens fame. I believe that it is still owned by his son.
There must have been a time when the acreage around 'Cedarcroft' extended west all the way to the beach since there is a ground floor loggia on that entire side of the house -- it must have been very nice.
I agree with Magnus that it is a good looking house & the floor plan looks very comfortable. I'm glad it's survived; but too bad the street is now so close on the west.
By the way- the Bing and Google shots, taken in winter, make the street look uncomfortably close to the house. In actuality, the road is a narrow, private road, barely wide enough for two cars and not nearly as obtrusive as it seems in the aerials.
Sadly, the house has clearly lost a great deal of its property and those wonderful porches do lose much of their "raison d'etre" when they face the neighbor's front door instead of the water.
Was there ever a single repository for the papers, documents, photos, et al from the Albro & Lindeberg firm? Or are they scattered at best across multiple institutions?
I find several intruiging features about this house. The first floor plan and its quantity of rooms is quite modest and suitable to modern living, assuming a conversion of the service wing to an open kitchen and family living space. The second floor is very well laid out as well with generous sizes and quantities of rooms. The two Loggia's have not been enclosed, which is unusual but refreshing. The approach and entry facade is as informaland cozy as the garden facade is formal and commanding (a juxtoposition I find appealing). It is a handsome house crowded upon by its many neighbors, especially the house most recently constructed to the west, but still very desireable. Kudos to the Beale family for the preservation of the house and its continued use.
The house in front of Cedarcroft was built in 1938. Up till then the house had unobstructed views to the sound. All the houses to the west are newer. You can see a foundation across the street being built for another property on Bing. Going back to 1966 I see the North Country Colony Beach Pavilion and Pier still standing or is it??? Magnus this one is for you - I have this as North Country Colony. I tagged the pier{since deleted} Someone wrote that it was Red Springs not NCC. Can you confirm?
I see the hall monitors deleted the link to North Country Colony pier. I find it odd that they don't like lost places mapped, as it seems one of the very best possible uses of Wikimapia.
North Country Colony had a pier until the mid 1970's or so when a winter ice storm broke its pilings as if they were matchsticks. It was a sad era, and instead of rebuilding, the Colony elected to take it down. The beach house, however, still remains (a sad, cement block replacement of a lovely shingle building that burned in the late 1960's). The North Country Colony Beach is directly east of, and adjacent to Red Spring Colony and the Rossiter/Beale house. Red Spring Colony also apparently had a beach house and pier almost directly in front of the Beale house. It had long disappeared by the time I came on the scene in the mid 1960's leaving only a few of the rusting support beams.
It's odd that North Country Colony has remained relatively intact and unscathed while neighboring Red Spring Colony- founded at the same time and composed of similarly sized houses and properties should have been so badly developed. Perhaps the demise of the huge Whitney and Maxwell properties directly southwest of Red Spring and contiguous to it spelled the end of its halcyon days.
Happy Thanksgiving to all- and to Zach who brings us all so much pleasure.
And, by the way, in the forrest of trees east of the Rossiter house on the Bing and Google maps is the remains of the servant's beach house for North Country Colony. It was connected to the beach by a narrow wooden boardwalk that snaked through the marsh to the west side of the North Country Colony Beach which was reserved for staff of Colony residents. This protocol was observed- although rather lackadaisically- until the late 1960's although the servant's beach house had been abandoned in the 1940's or so.
12 comments:
"An agreeable setting for the subtle comedy of domestic life."
Exactly.
If you can, get yourself a copy of American Homes of Today, 1915 from which Zach's previous photos of Cedarcroft came. Its turgid, overblown prose (of which Ancient quotes a small bit above)is at once a hoot and a warning about the danger of trying to fill up too much space with words, and of consulting your thesaurus too frequently.
I have always loved this house. it was owned for many years by Bouvier Beale, son of "Big Edie" of Gray Gardens fame. I believe that it is still owned by his son.
There must have been a time when the acreage around 'Cedarcroft' extended west all the way to the beach since there is a ground floor loggia on that entire side of the house -- it must have been very nice.
I agree with Magnus that it is a good looking house & the floor plan looks very comfortable. I'm glad it's survived; but too bad the street is now so close on the west.
Oops, hit 'publish' too soon. I'm gone for Thanksgiving & leaving my laptop behind -- Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
Yes, this house is still owned by the Beales and their three children. My daughter is friends with Casey Beale.
By the way- the Bing and Google shots, taken in winter, make the street look uncomfortably close to the house. In actuality, the road is a narrow, private road, barely wide enough for two cars and not nearly as obtrusive as it seems in the aerials.
Sadly, the house has clearly lost a great deal of its property and those wonderful porches do lose much of their "raison d'etre" when they face the neighbor's front door instead of the water.
Was there ever a single repository for the papers, documents, photos, et al from the Albro & Lindeberg firm? Or are they scattered at best across multiple institutions?
I find several intruiging features about this house. The first floor plan and its quantity of rooms is quite modest and suitable to modern living, assuming a conversion of the service wing to an open kitchen and family living space. The second floor is very well laid out as well with generous sizes and quantities of rooms. The two Loggia's have not been enclosed, which is unusual but refreshing. The approach and entry facade is as informaland cozy as the garden facade is formal and commanding (a juxtoposition I find appealing). It is a handsome house crowded upon by its many neighbors, especially the house most recently constructed to the west, but still very desireable. Kudos to the Beale family for the preservation of the house and its continued use.
The house in front of Cedarcroft was built in 1938. Up till then the house had unobstructed views to the sound. All the houses to the west are newer. You can see a foundation across the street being built for another property on Bing. Going back to 1966 I see the North Country Colony Beach Pavilion and Pier still standing or is it??? Magnus this one is for you - I have this as North Country Colony. I tagged the pier{since deleted} Someone wrote that it was Red Springs not NCC. Can you confirm?
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=40.8799217&lon=-73.6475909&z=17&l=0&m=s&v=4&show=/11024278/North-Country-Colony-Pier
http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=7.80299933461096E-06&lat=40.8821545750086&lon=-73.6493080222328&year=1966
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=40.8818117&lon=-73.6480844&z=17&l=0&m=b&show=/11024306/Bath-House-and-Bathing-Beach-for-North-Country-Colony
I see the hall monitors deleted the link to North Country Colony pier. I find it odd that they don't like lost places mapped, as it seems one of the very best possible uses of Wikimapia.
North Country Colony had a pier until the mid 1970's or so when a winter ice storm broke its pilings as if they were matchsticks. It was a sad era, and instead of rebuilding, the Colony elected to take it down. The beach house, however, still remains (a sad, cement block replacement of a lovely shingle building that burned in the late 1960's). The North Country Colony Beach is directly east of, and adjacent to Red Spring Colony and the Rossiter/Beale house. Red Spring Colony also apparently had a beach house and pier almost directly in front of the Beale house. It had long disappeared by the time I came on the scene in the mid 1960's leaving only a few of the rusting support beams.
It's odd that North Country Colony has remained relatively intact and unscathed while neighboring Red Spring Colony- founded at the same time and composed of similarly sized houses and properties should have been so badly developed. Perhaps the demise of the huge Whitney and Maxwell properties directly southwest of Red Spring and contiguous to it spelled the end of its halcyon days.
Happy Thanksgiving to all- and to Zach who brings us all so much pleasure.
And, by the way, in the forrest of trees east of the Rossiter house on the Bing and Google maps is the remains of the servant's beach house for North Country Colony. It was connected to the beach by a narrow wooden boardwalk that snaked through the marsh to the west side of the North Country Colony Beach which was reserved for staff of Colony residents. This protocol was observed- although rather lackadaisically- until the late 1960's although the servant's beach house had been abandoned in the 1940's or so.
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