Wednesday, January 9, 2013

'Shoredge'

'Shoredge', the Howard Caswell Smith estate designed by Edward H. Ficken c. 1906 in Cove Neck.  Smith was partner in Charles Hathaway & Co., chairman of the board of Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc. and former mayor of the Village of Cove Neck.  He was a close friend of Theodore Roosevelt and helped establish Roosevelt's 'Sagamore Hill' as a national monument following Roosevelt's death.  Smith was also chairman of the Oyster Bay Planning Commission and a member of the Nassau County Planning Commission.  He died in the house at the age of 94 in 1965 and 'Shoredge' was later demolished but click HERE to see roughly where it stood.  Click HERE to see the D.W. Smith estate 'Shoredge' that sits at the foot of the estate.  D.W. was not listed in Smith's obituary so he is not a son, perhaps a brother.  Photo from Garden & Home Builder, 1905.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very big and alittle awkward. Does the charles wang estate occupy the former house site?

The Down East Dilettante said...

I see on Wikimapia that there is a Smith family cemetery in the region of the two Smith estates---perhaps they were both descendants who did well and built their country houses on the family land?

I second the 'awkward' vote.

Kellsboro Jack said...

It has a bit of a Virginia House influence, but on steroids.

http://www.vahistorical.org/vh/vh_house_main.htm

Bullard's execution of Rynwood (Banfi) in Old Brookville is perhaps the best Elizabethan model that is grand yet restrained.

The Ancient said...

Looks a bit like a poor man's Wayne Manor.

(Are there caves -- or even bats -- in Cove Neck?)

Zach L. said...

No on the caves. Yes on the bats. Long Island has/had a large bat population but they have suffered greatly in recent years due to some sort of fungus or something that makes them sick in very large numbers.

Which is great if you're a mosquito and sucky if you're a person (no pun intended).