Friday, June 8, 2012

'Heathermere'

'Heathermere', the James Cresson Parrish Jr. estate built sometime in the early 20th century in the Shinnecock Hills in Southampton.  Parrish was an attorney whose uncle Samuel Longstreth Parrish founded the Parrish Art Museum.  His father, J.C. Parrish Sr., had a Grosvenor Atterbury designed house on First Neck Lane which is still extant.  'Heathermere' has since been demolished.

9 comments:

Doug Floor Plan said...

The sky reminds me of the final scene from "Gone With The Wind;" the grassy field reminds me of Andrew Wyeth's "Christina's World;" the house reminds me I don't want to get on a ladder to clean windows. 'Heathermere' must have been a nice place to get away from it all.

The Ancient said...

Parrish's mother, Emma, was the daughter of William Knapp Thorn and Emily Almira Vanderbilt.

That makes today's happy householder the great-grandson of The Commodore.

The Ancient said...

Off-topic:

Anyone with an interest in gardening may be interested in this event:

http://tclf.org/event/wot-dialogues

NEW FOR 2012, this initiative,which has received considerable praise from participants and the media, provides exclusive access to private gardens in the Hamptons, Chicago, Newport, Sonoma and elsewhere, and opportunities to hear directly from the landscape architects and their patrons about the design process.
How do patrons and designers work together? What makes for a great, enduring collaboration? Garden Dialogues provides unique opportunities for small groups to experience some of today’s most beautiful gardens created by some of the most accomplished designers currently in practice.

Patronage and partnerships have yielded great gardens, from Vanderbilt and Olmsted at Biltmore, Bliss and Farrand at Dumbarton Oaks, to the Millers and Dan Kiley in Columbus, Indiana. Over three separate weekends this spring and summer at more than a dozen sites, landscape architects and their clients will provide insights into how they work together to create today’s masterworks.

June 9-10: Connecticut, Chicago, Northern + Southern California, Hamptons, Hudson Valley, Washington, DC
July 14-15: Connecticut, Indianapolis, Maine, Newport, Portland, Seattle

Zach L. said...

Parrish Jr. was also the brother-in-law of Archibald Brown of Peabody, Wilson & Brown.

Doug Floor Plan said...

Looking at Zach's information on 'Heathermere' again I note that we do not know when it was built, exactly where it was, or when it was demolished; so other than this colorized card do we know 'Heathermere' actually existed? I'm just thinking aloud that photo shopping ain't a new invention, that's all.

The Ancient said...

We know it existed because it's Parrish's summer address in the July 1918 Social Register (Dilatory Domiciles).

There's also a 1922 mention in the NYT:

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F20617FC3E5D1A7A93C7A8178DD85F468285F9

(And I seem to remember that eBay was selling one of these postcards and dated the card to 1908.)

Zach L. said...

Here's the B&W photo under the Heathermere entry in Spinzia's Southampton Houses book:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8011/7170515439_ca479781fa_o.jpg

The Down East Dilettante said...

Ah, so what appeared to be a windmill-like tower in the other card was actually a windmill near the house. Very handsome place---makes one think of early Atterbury

Doug Floor Plan said...

LOL, I'll say it again -- you can't buy the kind of research that shows up here nearly every day; my thanks to Ancient & Zach. I'll be careful what & whom I challenge in the future.