Monday, September 10, 2012

When 'Birchwood' Was For Sale

'Birchwood', the Anson Wood Burchard estate designed by Howard Greenley c. 1906 in Lattingtown. Burchard was vice-chairman and president of General Electric Company and chairman of the International General Electric Company.  The residence underwent alterations by William Lawrence Bottomley in the 1930s.  Click HERE to see 'Birchwood' on google earth and HERE on bing.  The google earth image appears to be more recent than bing and shows that the house has since had a substantial renovation.


Brochure courtesy of SPLIA.

10 comments:

Zach L. said...

And if you're wondering this brochure did indeed appear on OLI three years ago but received very little commentary so I have reposted it.

The Devoted Classicist said...

I would have liked to have seen the dining room which is described as having an inlaid marble floor.

The Ancient said...

I don't generally like it when an older house is substantially enlarged. In this case, however, it looks as if very sensible things were done. (Perhaps the architect in charge of the renovations has pictures on his website?)

P.S. At the very least, the owners now have a place to park their cars in the winter.

Zach L. said...

So from what I can see...

- They made a secondary approach to the house through the woods and front lawn.

- Built a very large service wing where a small garden used to be.

- Built a detached garage.

- Demolished the original pool and built a new one in the field below the rear of the house.

- Resurrected the garden off the western wing.

- Removed the playground.

Anything else?

The Down East Dilettante said...

funny thing---when I first looked at this post, the two inside pages were separate, then when I clicked for the second page, suddenly they were one picture---been practicing Photoshop?

I like this place.

Anonymous said...

Looks as if the new wing was constructed where the original two storey service wing once stood and was removed at some point in time.

Pretty home. Nice grounds. Standard interiors.

Anonymous said...

Why do we not se any images of kitchen and bathrooms in these old sales brochures ?

The Ancient said...

Because the kitchens were for the servants and the bathrooms were considered too private.

Anonymous said...

To anonymous... Bathrooms and Kitchens were functional at the turn of the century, not the selling features that we expect in today's houses.

The Ancient said...

Anon 6:57 says it so well.

Once upon a time, gardens, privacy, and elegance were selling points.

Now it's million dollar kitchens -- for the caterers, mostly -- and the modern equivalent of two-holers, sheathed in Calacatta marble -- for the Mr and Mrs.