Thursday, February 14, 2013

'Planting Fields'

'Planting Fields', the William R. Coe estate designed by Walker & Gillette c. 1919 in Upper Brookville.  Click HERE and HERE for more on 'Planting Fields' and HERE to see the estate as it appears today.  Click HERE to see 'Planting Fields' on google earth and HERE on bing.

Photos from Arts & Decoration, 1920.

13 comments:

Kellsboro Jack said...

Zach, off topic of the day but going back to 2007 you had visited the remaining grounds of "Graenan". Have you ever returned? Does that property remain in the same condition today?

http://www.oldlongisland.com/2007/12/graenan-built-in-early-1920s-for.html

Zach L. said...

I have not been back since I was there in 2007. A year or so later I got a few emails from people asking about it and I told them where it was and to go at ones own risk and almost everyone told me they encountered Brookville Police when they were there.

I don't know if that means that's where the OB police go to hide while on duty (the OW police used to park in the back of the Von Stade estate and do god knows what) or they had some way of knowing when people were there.

Either way it was more or less abandoned at the time so I figure things have aged another 6 years. The outbuildings were in decent shape at the time.

Anonymous said...

Kellsboro...I find it odd that the surviving buildings were not converted to private homes. I'm sure at the time of the destruction of the main house, that all these out-buildings were in fine condition and the village of Brookville could of made some tax dollars off the remaining estate being sub-divided and turned into single family dwellings. Sad really, looks as if it were a fine estate indeed.

Kellsboro Jack said...

Thanks Zach for the info on Graenan.

Likewise I assume that six more years of neglect, extreme weather, et al likely has taken its tool on the structures.

I agree with anon in that it seems like a shame that such appealing structures of a far more manageable size haven't found a new life.

Doug Floor Plan said...

For what it's worth, here is Graenan on Bing: http://binged.it/ZfkRS7
It appears to still be in good shape.

Anonymous said...

You can still see what seems to be an intact walled garden through the trees, just south of the stables.

HalfPuddingHalfSauce said...

If your savvy with MyNas there are some interesting tidbits on Graenan. The fire that destroyed the main residence was in 1962. Most recently a deed transfer is listed for June 2012 with zero value? Taxes are over 27thousand on vacant land??? The question for me has always been - what happened to the facade. Link at the wikimapia site has the facade donated - " presented to the Metropolitan Museum where it is scheduled to be installed at the east end of the Medieval Sculpture Hall, where it will survey the Spanish Cathedral Gates of the Hearst Collection and the J.P. Morgan Collection of Medieval Art. For this gift the Metropolitan Museum of Art made the Rojtmans "Fellows in Perpetuity." Can anyone answer this?

charles said...

I just looked at Graenan on My Nassau Prop and the former estate comprises over 45 acres and is valued at over $7 million. The taxes are over $157,000 a year.
I last visited the property about two years ago and it was amazing to see. I cannot understand how such a value piece of property could just be left to rot. I have to admit that I am glad, though, because we get to see it.

wooded bliss said...

my dad was mayor of brookville for 8 years while i was a kid..i never heard "blip" about Graenan. we drove Cedar Swamp everyday..Nike site, yes, vacant fantastic abandoned estate, not a word. go figure.

wooded bliss said...

shoulda said my dad was a two term mayor..I have no idea how many years that was..maybe 6?. 8 seems a bit excessive.If I had known that Graenan was sitting there abandoned, as a kid, I would have explored every inch.

The Down East Dilettante said...

Wooded Bliss---my Dad was mayor of our town (or rather chairman of the board of selectmen, our local equivalent) for several terms. and I remember that each term was three years.

A transfer deed of zero value usually indicates and interfamilial gift transfer, does it not?

I rather like the idea that there are still a few people who will keep a big plot of land wild---stunned though I am to ponder the mil rate in Old Brookville, many times what it is here.

The Down East Dilettante said...

Half Pudding---I'm confused about this facade at the Met. Could you provide a link that clarifies?

HalfPuddingHalfSauce said...

DED - http://www.marquette.edu/chapel/index.shtml

Its in HISTORY.