Tuesday, December 20, 2011
The Ogden L. Mills Estate
The Ogden L. Mills estate designed by John Russell Pope c. 1915 in Woodbury. Click HERE and HERE for more on the Ogden L. Mills estate.
Labels:
John Russell Pope,
Woodbury
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15 comments:
Looks like someone has just worked his way down the hill mowing the lawn of the great open vista toward the house only to have to turn around and start back up mowing all over again. Beautiful and classic JRP home. Great public rooms with loggias to enjoy the views and the formal gardens that were near the home. Would have loved to see this home survive long enough to have the opportunity to become the country club that eventually was built on a portion of the property in a new bland commercial structure.
Although the photos and drawings convey a lot, this is one JRP house that I would have really enjoyed visiting to fully appreciate the scale. Somehow the relationship to the immediate landscape was not best resolved, however, and I have mixed feelings about the coverage with vines; it does humanize the house, but that seems the go against the architect's intent.
I love the box garden and the plantings along the cedar allee, but the ivy on the stonework and columns was a big, big mistake. (In later pictures, it makes the house look as if it's being slowly reclaimed by the jungle. Not that Woodbury was ever much of a jungle, but you know what I mean.)
P.S. Isn't that first picture is just crying out for a zip-line?
The boxwood garden pictured in an earlier post is indeed wonderful. Also someone here loves spotting elevators and the one here is well located, easily accessible from the great entry hall or the side delivery porch, but definitely in a service hall.
Handsome, elegant, restrained, cerebral, vast, cold.
Killenworth was not the only Russian outpost on Long Island. Interior views of the Mills house here:
http://books.google.com/books?id=LkoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA87&dq=life+magazine+ogden+mills&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JbzwTrzVBoXr0gHivYXQAg&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA
Very beautiful! Nothing like brick mansions with Limestone Classical Detailing (you have to thank Crawley for that!!). An interesting and unusual floor plan, as well!
Ogden Mills' funeral as reported by Life magazine:
http://books.google.com/books?id=0kQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA30&dq=life+magazine+ogden+mills&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JbzwTrzVBoXr0gHivYXQAg&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false
Ivy or no, there is nothing about this house I don't like, especially the floor plan.
It had a quite interesting floor plan, I like this estate.
I'm generally not a fan of flat roofed structures like this house, but everything about it is exceptionally well laid out, detailed and articulated. It is a pleasure to look at and study. One detail of the exceptional plan that especially stands out to me is the arrangement of the entrances to the first floor bedrooms. Rather than opening directly into the hallway, they open to secondary vestibules. It is both brilliant and elegant. It is this attention to how spaces are experienced that sets greatness apart from merely average. Compliment aside, that wing would have made a fantastic location for a modern master suite.
I Hipped Roof in the Georgian Manner with some restrained Georgian Dormers would have worked wonder for this house (I don't like flat roofs either!!)
There is a low profiled hipped roof behind the balustrade in the drawings. You can't see it because the balustrade hides it completely. The Roof should have a higher pitched profile for this house.
Actually, in my humble opinion, this neo-classical design would not have worked with a hip roof---and obviously Pope designed it to appear flat---
The guy certainly went to extremes, didn't he? Maybe the flatness of this roof is over-compensation for the steepness of the roof at Chateau Ivor?
Great house, wonderful floorplan, gosh can't believe anyone would want to tear down this gem.
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