Click HERE to see a 1954 aerial with 'Sunshine' still intact before the property was subdivided and developed. Photos from American Homes and Gardens, 1911.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
'Sunshine'
Click HERE to see a 1954 aerial with 'Sunshine' still intact before the property was subdivided and developed. Photos from American Homes and Gardens, 1911.
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13 comments:
Great architecture? Maybe not. A heck of a lot of fun? You betcha. Give me a Pompeian Court in Great Neck any day. That, a perhaps over exuberant wall fountain and the name "Sunshine" and my day is made.
I'm with magnus.
(That waterfront side just screams out, "Toga.. Toga... Toga.")
Ancient...I was hoping you might have some better luck digging up something on Gilbert.
I wasn't able to find a whole lot pertaining to the man himself...though there is a bunch on his wife and children.
I’m surprised this house was torn down in the 1970s – the exuberant style would have fit right in with the times; my guess is by then a house built c. 1900 needed some major upgrades. Interesting to compare ‘Sunshine’ with ‘Martin Hall’ [the in-laws’ next door place] – both designed by Little & O’Connor. Both built at the same time, both exuberant, & both having a double-curved staircase around the front door – I wonder if the respective owners liked that look or if the architect sold it to them? I also wonder what the C. V. Brokaw Sr. family at the stately, refined “The Elms” [Charles A. Platt, c 1912] thought when the went to call on their exuberant in-laws?
Lots of bold over the top design with the hand maidens supporting the dining room mantle and an early version of the now legally required double bridal staircase installed in every new mcmansion, but a wonderful place indeed and I agree with the comments about the fantastic wall fountain. Unfortunately it seems to have been an extended family that didnt have much luck preserving their homes whether the classic Elms or the lavish bordello inspired Martin Hall.
Holy Laocoon, what IS going on with the fountain - whatever those shapes are, we know exactly where the neighborhood's missing grandchildren had run off to.
-Flo
The 1970s date for the demolition is wrong. Click on the link to historic aerials and you'll notice Sunshine disappears between 1954 and 1966.
Henry Bramhall Gilbert (1861 - 1911)
From the NYT:
"[Bramhill Gilbert] died in June, 1911, while at Aix-les-Bains, France, with his wife and family, where he had gone in search of health. He left an estate valued at about $15 million."
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F40914FF385B13738DDDAE0894D8415B838DF1D3
There's data suggesting Mrs. Gilbert was 18 when she got married (November 8, 1888, in Manhattan). She died in 1939 in Locust Valley.
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The Widow Gilbert
http://www.amazon.com/Reprint-Mrs-Bramhall-Gilbert-1900/dp/B004NXRS7I
http://www.ebay.com/itm/early-1900s-photo-Mrs-H-Bramhall-Gilbert-/260621255547
http://www.sallyjamesfarnham.org/gilbert.html
A confusion of labels.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/3239318614/lightbox/
__________
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=FA0A11FD3C5412738DDDA90A94D9405B848DF1D3
(The Widow Gilbert re-marries.)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2404816631/lightbox/
(Mrs. Dugmore, as she then was.)
Well, this place is a regular United Nations stylistically. A merry romp through architectural history. Sunny Spain, ancient Pompeii, Merrie olde Englande, you name it.
Biographical Directory of the State of New York, 1900:
GILBERT, HENRY BRAMHALL -- Merchant, 97 Bleecker Street, New York City; residence 826 Fifth Avenue. Member Union League, Country, Racquet and Tennis, Suburban Riding and Driving, Carteret Gun and Larchmont Yacht Clubs.
http://books.google.com/books?id=Hns_AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA158&lpg=PA158&dq=%22Henry+Bramhall%22+and+%22Gilbert%22&source=bl&ots=tHbvQNC1OI&sig=pysCqptoOsB8mMBe_nj6HvM78IE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=PBviT8yPLMmw6AG-3-UH&ved=0CE8Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=%22Henry%20Bramhall%22%20and%20%22Gilbert%22&f=false
__________
From the NYT, July 5, 1911:
GILBERT -- Funeral service of the late Harry Bramhall Gilbert at his residence, 40 West 57th St., Thursday, July 6, 11 A.M. Interment private.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F4061EF93F5517738DDDAC0894DF405B818DF1D3
__________
Down in Palm Beach in 1913, Mrs Gilbert intervenes to spare her two daughters some small bit of infamy:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19130211&id=-JMWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=7iAEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3640,5464140
(Center column, just before the Scott story, then jumping right.)
__________
Her re-marriage the following year also spawned gossip:
http://www.nationaltrust-gsy.org.gg/content.aspx?p=118
Zach --
I still don't know where the money came from. The only reference I've seen to Gilbert's profession is "merchant." But the address given is somewhat problematic. Perhaps it was just an office suite.
Fifteen million was a fair sum in 1911. Perhaps Gilbert was the grandson of an Old New York merchant who invested in property in midtown. That comports well with his list of clubs, but it's just a guess, as I saw nothing about his ancestry.
"GILBERT, HENRY BRAMHALL -- Merchant, 97 Bleecker Street, New York City; residence 826 Fifth Avenue. Member Union League, Country, Racquet and Tennis, Suburban Riding and Driving, Carteret Gun and Larchmont Yacht Clubs."
That appears to be it, Ancient. I've even gone through census documents, anything at all to bring this man alive. I can't find a trace of him anywhere, no footprints beyond those of his wife. Just wish I knew more so I could rid my view finder of this Tim Conway-kind of background fellow who died in France while searching for his health.
-F
Even tracing Gilbert back through his paternal and maternal grandparents sheds no light whatsoever on the source of his money.
HBG was born in 1862 in Rahway, Union, NJ. His father died in 1865, age 36, in Manhattan. His mother died in 1887, age 43, also in Manhattan. HBG married Lilla Brokaw the following year.
HBG and Lilla Brokaw seem to have had four children: Lilla Brokaw Gilbert (1892 - 1975), Florence Emily Gilbert (1896 - ?), Elizabeth Ward Gilbert (1903 -- 1 September 1969, Palm Beach, FL), and Harry W. Gilbert (1903 - ?).
(Trivia: One of the daughters married someone whose aunt, Lily Price, ultimately became the Duchess of Marlborough.)
Lastly, there is a Harry Bramhall Gilbert Charitable Trust centered on Tidewater Virginia. Gilbert was a naval officer and architect who died a few decades ago. It's unclear to me just how he's related to the founder of this feast. (Perhaps he's incorrectly listed as "Harry W. Gilbert" above -- that's possible.)
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