'
Villa Mille Fiori', the
Albert Barnes Boardman estate designed by
Hill & Stout c. 1910 in
Southampton. Boardman, a prominent attorney, was partner in the firm of O'Brien, Boardman & Platt. Click
HERE for more on '
Villa Mille Fiori'. The estate has since been demolished.
Photos from
Architecture, 1913.
7 comments:
I believe that Boardman sold the house to his law partner, Judge O'Brien. When I was last in Sothampton, the gates were still in existance, on the southwest corner of Great Planes and Coopers Neck lane.
A few links --
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsca.16251/
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsca.16254/
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/ppmsca/16100/16188v.jpg
(The garden.)
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From cottages-gardens.com:
A 1914 photograph depicts the garden gate at Millefiori, the Coopers Neck Lane estate of Albert Barnes Boardman, a wealthy corporate lawyer. His wife, Georgina, led the charge to have Johnston document the gardens of the East End. Starting with Millefiori, Johnston photographed the area’s great estates and presented them in a series of highly acclaimed lectures across the country. This gate, reminiscent of a triumphal arch, was just one historic component of the circa-1910 house, a faithful copy of the Villa Medici designed by Hill & Stout. (Historicist designs such as this one were typical of the period.) The house was demolished in the 1960s, although its gates are still extant.
http://www.cottages-gardens.com/Hamptons-Cottages-Gardens/June-2012/Gardens-For-A-Beautiful-America/
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http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F50811FD3B5D15738DDDA00894DE405B8585F0D3
(And after all that, Boardman won the case.)
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http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F50616FC395913738DDDAE0894DD405B8985F0D3
(Wall Street never really changes, does it?)
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http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F50C11FE3B5B17738DDDA80894D9405B868DF1D3
(Boardman crosses the Tiber.)
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http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F10A11F83A541B7A93C0A91789D85F468285F9
(Boardman re-marries.)
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http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FB0B13FD3D5516738DDDAE0994D1405B838FF1D3
(Death notice.)
I love the composition and picturesque massing. The demolition of this sophisticated house was a huge loss for Southampton.
From the Pincian Hills to the Southampton plains.
Interesting to see how the Boardmans followed the shift in taste after WWI and gave up this house in favor a more understated French manoir by Polhemus & Coffin
Otto Kahn's Morristown estate was also based on the Villa Medici.
IMO, from the exquisite exterior details and overall building massing to the incredible interior design finishes and layout, this is probably one of the most fantastic Italian Renaissance inspired residential designs ever built in the US. The garden facade and loggia are particularly outstanding. The acres of formal landscaping completes the harmonious composition and creates the illusion of having a Medici family summer home in the Roman Campagna. This was a very unfortunate loss. A good smack upside the head to the owner who tore this down. Also love the estate name.
Here is a link to some more on Villa Mille Fiore at Houses of the Hamptons. http://housesofthehamptons.blogspot.com/2012/04/villa-mille-fiore-southampton.html
From NYSD --
Commissioned in 1910 by prominent attorney Albert Barnes Boardman, on 12 acres of sand on the corner of Coopers Neck and Great Plains Road, architects Hill & Stout created a palatial 24-room four-story mansion based on the Villa de Medici in Rome. Six master bedroom suites all overlooking an Italian Renaissance garden. Mr. Boardman lived there for 17 years before selling to a partner Judge Morgan O’Brien who lived there until his death at 85 in 1937. The house and the property were sold at auction a year later, for $16,000. The house had cost $250,000 to build 28 years before.
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