Tuesday, July 24, 2012

'Bogheid' Interiors

 The accompanying interiors to 'Bogheid', the Helen Porter Pryibil estate designed by Delano & Aldrich c. 1938 in Glen Cove.  Click HERE for more on 'Bogheid'.  Photos courtesy of Eddie Crowley.







These photos were taken with expressed permission.  'Bogheid' is a private residence with no public access.

34 comments:

HalfPuddingHalfSauce said...

What a elegant ruin! Who wouldn't want to sink millions into restoring??? Who wouldn't want the chance to live here even without running water???

magnus said...

What a house- what a view. Perfection.

Perhaps Carey suplements his income by leasing out the tennis court to the town dump.

The Devoted Classicist said...

Great proportions.

Surely there's a lesson in Architectural Psychology somewhere here. Maybe the chapter "It's Mine And You Can't Have It".

The Down East Dilettante said...

Miss Havisham? Miss Havisham? Are you in there?

The Down East Dilettante said...

House, landscaping, view---a lesson in proportion, integration and suitability.

About the mirrors set into the overdoor pediments in the drawing room? They just don't look 'right'. Magnus?

magnus said...

On March 6th, 1938, the New York Times reported that the Pryibils and Mrs. Pryibil's children from a previous marriage would be moving into their new house in the spring of that year. The Times stated that the new house had 57 rooms, 14 baths, an indoor tennis court and swimming pool (unclear if they meant indoor or outdoor- I saw no evidence of either on my many visits there). The times said that the new structure had cost $250,000.

Bogheid must certainly be one of the last, really grand houses built before the War, and probably among the last of its type built looking back from the succeding 50 or 60 years.

magnus said...

And DED- I am 100% certain that those dreadful overdoors are a later additon. The house was used as a "Decorator's Showhouse" in the late 1980's or early 1990's. They may have been added by a local decorator who felt they could improve on those old timers, Delano and Aldrich. Perhaps they're a Carey addition- we've all had a good opportunity to judge his aesthetic. One thing is for sure, they aren't original.

Anonymous said...

Thes people have stretched themselves way too thin financially with all their mansions. They can't take care of these places. They can't furnish them adequately. It's just pathetic.

Look at the station wagon parked out in the courtyard. No wheels on it, and yet they don't even have the common redneck courtesy to put it up on cinder blocks and open up the front hood.

The Down East Dilettante said...

1938? That is a last gasp.

Indeed, the way the mirror was divided reeked of the disco 80's.

Surely a picture of the original Bogheid could be found, were some enterprising soul to contact the History Room at the Glen Cove library?

Kellsboro Jack said...

It looks like - in addition to the comments of yesterday - I have my answer in regards to the 'commercial' wing as being the indoor tennis court. Almost all the panes of glass in the arch are without damage which is no small feat. Yes its junked up but thats better than trees growing on the courts.

Is that a blue sky painted on the ceiling of the drawing room or a one-time fix of damage?

While I concur with deflated feelings of many that this is a residence being smothered and deprived of true preservation efforts it certainly could be worse.

Plenty of examples exist where an owner talks restoration but is stripping out architectural elements and sneaking them out the back door to either pay the bills and/or fatten the bank account. I don't see that here rather the home is simply fading away.

archibuff said...

Many thanks to Eddie Crowley again for his photos, but since he had this rare opportunity it would be interesting to hear what his experience was like, unless of course he was sworn to silence about what he was photographing. Did his host say why the owners added junkyard cars as accent pieces in the front courtyard? Do the Careys hold family gatherings in the living room once the dust and peeling paint is brushed off the furniture?

While comprehending the reasons for Glen Cove selling this to a private owner, obviously without any thought for provisions or controls on usage, when it is located smack in the middle of their municipal golf course is one mind numbingly bad decision, the decision to furnish this musty vacant home as if it was actually lived in is equally as bizarre.

I would normally recommend the city just use eminent domain to re-acquire the house to use as their club house and for a restaurant and community purposes, citing the greater public good, but the hidden time bomb of potential structural damage, corroded steel, mold, dry rot, etc. probably makes that unthinkable for any mayor or town board. Condemnation of the property as unfit for habitation is also a good starting point, but it seems Glen Cove is happy to let this eyesore/dumping ground sit undisturbed in the center of their golf course? Just acquire it and have developers bid on the right to renovate it and operate a catering franchise and golf course facility with the city taking a percentage as opposed to letting it rot away within sight of every Glen Cove resident? Glen Cove might actually make money on the deal. Instead it just is utilized as a private dump?

BCD said...

I believe the mirrored overdoors in the drawing room are original, when you are in the room, they seem to make perfect sense, and have the feeling of adge. Ther eis also a bit of that sort of glamourous mirror work in other parts of the house too. I am goignto check my sources and confirm if original or not....

magnus said...

DED- Alas, i have combed through the history room at the Glen Cove Library and come up with very little. Nothing on Bogheid and surprisingly little on the Pratts- Glen Cove's version of George Washington.

Glen Cove had a wonderful town historian who was, slowly, but surely, attempting to make up for the City's benign neglect of its history. He sadly committed suicide a year or so ago. It was a real loss.

The Down East Dilettante said...

just from the photos, the arched pediments look right---but the mirrored inserts? I'll need some convincing---but perhaps they do look better in real life

magnus said...

I am no architect, but those overdoors look too squat to me- and I am almost certain that had they been mirrored, it was a detail that I would have registered.

What struck me at the time, and strikes me now, is how utterly simple- perhaps deceptively so- all the interior finishes are.

The Down East Dilettante said...

Incidentally, y'all better run right over to NYSD---'Big Old Houses' visits 'Ormston' this week.

Anonymous said...

"I am 100% certain that those dreadful overdoors are a later additon."

They do seem applied, the protrusion makes them feel not quite of a piece with the door/door frames. The mirrored pair at the end seem not to relate to the unmirrored one on the side, indeed the one on the side doesn't even seem reflective. With sincerest thanks to Mr. Crowley, but these arches make me long to see what's going on at the fireplace, I can see the suggestion of a hearth but maybe there's a clue in whole chimneypiece, how far up the wall does it go, any arching, etc.

I can see a decorator coming in after the fact [for that decorator showhouse previously mentioned] and having a fit that the windows reach a height so close to the ceiling at one end, then down at the entry ends the doors present "a problem" leaving all that [they call it "dead space" and they MUST fill it up] space between the doorways and the ceiling. Solution: let's get some arches for that dead space!

-F

Anonymous said...

Magnus is the dining room on the left of the hall or directly ahead under the stairs in the first photo? Do you happen to remember anything else of the layout? Thank you for sharing your memories of the place they really help it come to life!

magnus said...

Anon: If I recall, the very large dining room was the last door to the left of the stairhall. The door straight ahead- under the stairs, led to a pantry (pantry and kitchen were all but gutted back then). The first door to the left in the photo led to a large sitting room that also had a door at one end into the dining room and at the other into the main part of the front hall. The far door to the right led down a passage to a smaller sort of sitting room that looked out over the drive. If I recall, there were cupboards in the room or in the closets in the passage leading to it that were marked as storage places for tennis equipment (in my fantasy ownership of Bogheid, I was going to paper this sitting room in antiques Chinese wallpaper and call it the "Chinese Drawing Room. Was I a bit pretentious or what?). I think that the near door on the right was a powder room and WC, but my memory is sketchy on that. Now, back to the front door: The first door from the hall on your left was the panelled room shown in the photos (I thought it odd that there was no real library- at least not one with built in bookshelves). Then further along to your left, two doors into the large living room shown in the photos. There was also a door on the south side of the living room into the panelled room. The panelled room's west windows, as well as the south window in the living room let onto a small terrace with steps that let down to a tiny walled garden that was charm itself (if you look at yesterday's photos, driveway side, you'll see an iron balcony on the 2nd floor that over looked this garden as well.

Sadly, my meory utterly fails me on the 2nd floor, except for a very large master bedroom suit that included an panelled dressing room with more closets than you could count. Another fantasy for a City dweller like me. The master bedroom was at the western end of the 2nd floor, over the living room.

Hope that helps.

BCD said...

Mangus -

the bookshelves in the library are all hidden behind the panels-- most of them are spilt and pop open to reveal shelves.

the powder room (dressing area and toilet room) is entered through the door opposite the library door on your right as you enter the house.

I feel like one of the four doors in the stair hall opened to reval a slop sink, and i know its not he "secret"door between the DR & sitting room.

the room accessed by the door closest to staircase lead to what was originally the mens smoking room

trying to get floor plans form my seceret source as well....

hopefully they will confirm the origins of the mirrored overdoors. I also remember hte fireplace in that room being a bit "fanciful" and the chair rail has a very overscale rinceau border carved into it -- very '40's glam.

NYarch said...

A sad story by all accounts from the Carey's willful neglect to the town's inability to control the situation. Some people are fined for not mowing their lawn. How has this gotten so far out of control?

Anonymous said...

"I believe the mirrored overdoors in the drawing room are original...There is also a bit of that sort of glamourous mirror work in other parts of the house too....very '40's glam."

BCD, this is invaluable information.

-F

magnus said...

BCD- Now that you mention it, I do remember the panels opening. But am I wrong? I remember the shelving behind the panels that opened as being quite shallow- more like display cases than bookshelves. We are going back 30 or so years, so my memory is probably faulty. And I think you are correct on that small jib door next to the dining room door. It was a slop closet. Am I correct that the dining room had an eliptical end, with oval topped display cases built in on either side? And what was the sitting room next to the dining room used for?

I would love to know your connection to the house. It was my fantasy residence when I was a kid, and I had each room, and all the property laid out in my mind. Looking back on it, some of my ideas were pretty terrible- my Chinese Drawuing Room was about the least elaborate.

HalfPuddingHalfSauce said...

Thanks to Zach, E. Crowley, Magnus and OLI's new BFF - BCD! NO details are to small to repeat here. Basement to attic please. If the house falls at least some history will survive.

l'il gay boy said...

As much as I'd like to see it restored to the grandeur of its heyday, if it must fall to "wracke and ruine" I'm glad it's sited where it is -- if nothing else, it will make a fabulous ruin.

Just, please God, not in my lifetime.

BCD said...

Mangus,

Bogheid was also my "dream house" as a child- followed by Welwyn. Something about those quirky D&A details that sucks me right in.
(I have both fully decorated in my head to this day)

my connenction is-- grew up in GC, Family has lived there for some time, and still does. Went to North Country Day school (so did my parents) and thought it funny that the interior shot fron Zachs post on the house was actually my classroom.

Always remember the stories of "the way things were" you had milk from Pryibils, eggs from Armstrong Dairy, Dogs from Mrs. Morgans kennels, etc, etc. sadly not like that anymore....

Mrs Pryibils head gardener (son of her fathers head gardener) came to work for my grandparents when Mrs Pryibil died, and then to work for my parents. We always heard many stories about the place (and many other GC houses) even have a few relics form Bogheid... clock from estate school house, a couple of duck decoys from the time of the original Bogheid, and a lantern used in the cow barn. Nothing Glamourous, but little treasures just the same.

and... I happen to be one of those horrible interior designers everyone on these boards rips apart... except I have the utmost respect for these old houses and treat them with the reverence they deserve. Not adding mirrors or faux finish to anything - ever. SO that has given me access to many of these great houses and much of the behind the scenes history that Zach posts about.

sorry for the long post, but Mangus asked, so I had to answer!

Anonymous said...

Unrelated, but check out www.newyorksocialdiary for a look at Ormston and Lattingtown in general.

magnus said...

BCD- many thanks for your answer. I'm a Glen Cove lad myself, so a great deal of what you say resonates with me. I grew up in North Country Colony, right across from the Day School, so both Welwyn and Bogheid were in my back yard, so to speak. And the history of those old houses has always fascinated me- not only the architecture, but the lives of the people who lived in them. They are so close to our own time chronologically, but an eon away in lifestyle.

magnus said...

BCD- I'd be most interested in your opinion of Welwyn's interior. I find the floor plan somewhat problematic- a bit choppy and disorganized, other than the glorious pine paneled drawing room. It seems to me that D&A struggled with the ghost of the original house. I'd like to get your take.

And the deterioration of the gardens at Welwyn over the last 30 years is a real tragedy.

magnus said...

Sorry to keep posting, but if you want to see one of the greatest extant D&A interiors to my mind, visit the headquarters of the Council on Foreign Relations on East 68th street in Manhattan- the Harold Pratt's NY townhouse. It's a "must" if you love D&A's work. And who doesn't?

The Down East Dilettante said...

BCD---as one of those people who 'rip apart' interior designers, let me assure you that I have only the utmost respect for the profession, have dabbled in it myself, some of my best friends are designers.

The ones who get ripped apart are the ones who forget the mantra of 'suitability, suitability, suitability and do some really stupid, tacky thing, gilding lilies that need no gilding.

Anonymous said...

"and... I happen to be one of those horrible interior designers everyone on these boards rips apart..."

"Everyone" here does not rip apart designers. I may be one of 2 or 3 who do, but I do so from an inside perspective as I too am of/from the profession.

I'm so looking forward to your confirmations regarding the arched overdoors in the drawing room. With many many thanks for your contributions today,

-F

Anonymous said...

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to explore this house from top to bottom, with the permission of the afffable security guard, back in 1970. I explained that I was completing a feature for Life magazine, and the guard left me to wander at will throughout the house. I remember the wine cellar which still had many bottles covered in dust.I was also impressed with the Master bedroom suite which had a large dressing room with drawers labeled black dress socks, casual white socks, etc. After some time the security guard jumped out from behind a door to startle me for fun. Back in the early seventies it was very easy to explore many of these neglected homes! What great memories!.

Anonymous said...

just saw the outside of this beauty today via pry ibis beach and golf course. It breaks my heart that it is not being shared with the glen ove community. It is truly a greyvgarden in our midst. What a great fit it and other mansions of the area could be to teach young people about history and architecture. I so wish the Carey family would make it habitable, and gift it to the glen cove school district for educational purposes nd then as a tax write off.