Tuesday, January 31, 2012

More 'Arlough'

Some additional views of 'Arlough', the Robert Low Bacon estate designed by John Russell Pope c. 1916 in Old Westbury. Click HERE for more on 'Arlough'.





Photos from Architectural Review, 1917.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

On Bing, It looks as if the home that replaced Old Acres, situated west of the out buildings group, that had the stone culvert lined circular drive in front and the elaborate formal gardens with mature trees and pines located west of the house itself, is still shown intact on Bing but is completely leveled in Google maps, including the lovely gardens.

The Down East Dilettante said...

yes, why preserve loveliness from the past if you can afford a bulldozer.

The additions shown in the tax assessor's photos are really not all that good. Although there were clearly good intentions (copying the roof mass, the dormers), the shift in height, the fact that the roof doesn't join the house (which would better integrate the design), the windows that are out of scale and change the character of mostly bare wall at first floor level, the clumsy entrance portico that replaces the delicate over the door balcony of the original design, and most of all, that busy little rotunda thingy, (in and of itself not badly designed, but like that one piece of jewelry too many on an outfit), and that wooden with the air conditioner unit, totally clumsily designed. Sorry, I am the dissenting voice here---those additions try, but they dont succeed. (The older addition to the service wing gets an A. The new additions? The architect needs to stay after class. Good intentions, but needs more instruction in composition (and tact). He gets a C-

Some lilies don't need gilding, and restraint is the greater part of valor.

TF Cornerstone said...

Wow! These photos of old Long Island houses are beautiful. The long twisted staircases reminds us of scenes from "Gone with the Wind." Thanks for posting them! It's always wonderful to go back in time for a moment.

The Down East Dilettante said...

PS. I STILL don't get what David Bacon (ne Gaspard Griswold Bacon, Jr.) is doing in the narrative. He wasn't a son of this house.

Lodi said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
lil' gay boy said...

DED, David Bacon was Gaspar Bacon's son; Gaspar was the younger Robert's brother (making David the nephew of Arlough's owner).

HPHS, thanks for the link; I'd already found it. Unfortunately, careful reading indicates that The Corners is the house in the aerial photograph (built on the "site" of Old Acres, not necessarily the footprint). Since the aerial is from 1966 and Old Acres was demolished in 1942, it still leaves me curious as to where exactly the house was located (I'm trying to figure out the relationship of the reflecting pool to the original house, if there was one).

I'm also curious to know what would motivate someone (who apparently could afford to keep it), to demolish a house in 1942 when we were at war?

The Ancient said...

Dilettante --

OK, you be the one to resist a BLT joke.

(Aren't you supposed to be working on your book?)

lil' gay boy said...

Ancient, you're an unforgiving taskmaster ––– makes me glad I finished my book.

As for The Corners, I still cannot believe the new owners tore it down; I shudder to think of what kind of monstrosity, a la Valley House, will rise from the ashes...

Zach, any info on that?

lil' gay boy said...

Never mind; I found it...it has an elevator, too.

Jesus H. Christ...

The Down East Dilettante said...

Lil Gay Boy. There's a lot I'm not sure of in life, but I guarantee you that the pool that is causing you so much consternation trying to make it part of Old Acres is part of the landscape design for Arlough and not Old Acres, and it makes perfect sense as a feature to be seen as one sweeps around the drive. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and a reflecting pool is just a landscape feature.

As for my book, official announcement in a few days. I spent the entire afternoon in a research archive, sifting through TWO THOUSAND vintage photographs.

lil' gay boy said...

"I spent the entire afternoon in a research archive, sifting through TWO THOUSAND vintage photographs."

Sounds like heaven to me...

The Down East Dilettante said...

After about the five hundredth, one big shingle summer cottage began to look pretty much like another... I was practically snow blind...

archibuff said...

Cant wait for that book. Any CPH masterpieces up there in Maine or did he only leave his magic in other parts of the country? If not a special chapter then maybe a warm tribute in the forward? A dedication perhaps?

Sad to see The Corners torn down, especially since the prior developer worked around it and the gardens when subdividing the property back 20 years ago, but equally sad to see that the new owners cared nothing for the special mature landscaping and tore through the formal gardens leaving massive piles of dirt.

The Down East Dilettante said...

CPH in Maine? Surely you jest. Surely.