Monday, August 11, 2014

The V.G.F. Vanderbilt Estate

The Virginia Graham Fair Vanderbilt estate designed by John Russell Pope c. 1911 in Brookville.  Click HERE and HERE for more on the estate which has since been demolished.  Photo from American Architect, 1927.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

My favorite.
Wonder what the other side looked like.

Tyngsboro said...

Until images of the "other side" surface at some future date I would think it would look equally as wonderful. In historian Wayne Andrews' "The Vanderbilt Legend: The Story of the Vanderbilt Family," published in 1940, some interesting architectural research came to light about Virgilnia Fair Vanderbilt's country house, as follows . . . "On Long Island the divorcee purchased the country seat at Manhasset of the late Frank Munsey. The architecture of that villa, originally the home of Louis Sherry, reminded nostalgic guests of Marie Antoinette's hameau at Versailles."
And, again, after Virginia Fair Vanderbilt's passing, it reads . . . "The country home, 'Fairmont,' today, ( 1940 ) serves as the clubhouse of a moderate-pricecd real estate development."

Anonymous said...

Tyngsboro - The house you refer to in "The Vanderbilt Legend" is not the same one shown in this photo. The house pictured above was built by Mrs. Vanderbilt in Brookville and is now demolished. Some years before her death, Mr. Vanderbilt sold the Brookville estate and purchased the Louis Sherry mansion in Manhasset that you refer to. She lived at the Manhasset property until her death. The Sherry-Vanderbilt house in Manhasset is still standing amidst the housing development cited in Wayne Andrews' book. Virginia, according to at least one source, also resided at a surviving Glen Cove mansion on a private road that runs, I think, behind Winfield. In addition, the house that she shared with W.K. Vanderbilt before his death is also partially extant. The good news is that two and a half out of the four Long Island mansions of Virginia Vanderbilt are still standing. By the way, Virginia was the sister of Theresa Fair Oelrichs who built Rosecliff in Newport.

Titanic Bill

Anonymous said...

The Manhasset house is now the Strathmore Vanderbilt Clubhouse. I also hope that more photos surface on day of this impressive estate.

Tyngsboro said...

Thanks Titanic Bill ! Andrews described the Virginia Fair Vanderbilt Manhasset house thusly in his book ~ "reminded nostalgic guests of Marie Antoinette's hameau at Versailles." That certainly fits the description of today's Old Long Island posting. Seems Andrews was given a bum steer back pre-1940 when he was researching for his book, "The Vanderbilt Legend." I really admire this house though ~ so Storybook !

wooded bliss said...

as a child, I rode my bike and played "Cowboys and Indians" ,as a young boy would, all over the remnants of this Brookville Estate..the reflecting pool and guest cottage and some statuary remained ( at least in the 60's it did ). I always wondered about the time before mine on this land. The original landscape had a curious and winning axis..always knew there must have been something really great there. So happy to see what really did exist. Very Special.