Monday, December 29, 2014

The Alexander C. Humphreys Estate

One more post before the end of the year.  The Alexander C. Humphreys estate designed by C.P.H. Gilbert c. 1899 in Glen Cove.  The home is pictured here c. 1916 under the ownership of Frank Woolworth shortly before it burned down and was replaced with the current 'Winfield Hall'.  Click HERE and HERE for more on the Humphreys estate.


9 comments:

Doug Floor Plan said...

I really like the photo of the back of the house with the roses in the foreground -- looks like someone was showing off their ability to manage depth-of-field. Is that term even used in digital photography?

Magnuspetrie said...

Interesting to see how Woolworth and Gilbert so closely adhered to the basic form of the origional house in its second iteration.

Magnuspetrie said...

Another unusual architectural note: it appears that there is a covered, open porch on the west side of the house with what I surmise is a sleeping porch above it. This gives onto a narrow two story open portico. It is a somewhat odd looking arrangement in the photographs and was, I imagine, even more so "in the flesh".

Magnuspetrie said...

Sorry to keep posting, but one more observation: the columns on the west side of the house (left of the Porte cochere) on both the front and rear elevations are round, while those east of center are flat. Perhaps it was done in hopes of adding interest to the facade. It seems to be a somewhat odd arrangement though.

Anonymous said...

Zach:

Since this is your last posting of the year, can you tell us what (if any)Long Island estates were demolished or destroyed by fire this year? Have any of them been moved into the "seriously threatened" category this year? Were there any preservation victories? After that awful year in 2013 and the loss of Inisfada, 2014 had to be better than last year!

Titanic Bill

Anonymous said...

I like the more robust architectural details here than the later facade elements of the much grander Winfield Hall. The flat pilasters and boxy arrangement in particular

I think Dormer House, aka Lockjaw Ridge, in Lattingtown was lost to fire in the very cold winter of 2014. The crews had trouble getting water to the house and it was a complete loss. archibuff

Anonymous said...

http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/one-dead-after-fire-at-lattingtown-estate-house-1.7068469

Anonymous said...

And this --

http://www.oysterbayguardian.com/stories/Community-mourns-death-of-aspiring-young-model-in-fire,121?page=1&content_source=

Ancient

Zach L. said...

This came down towards the end of the summer:

http://www.oldlongisland.com/2008/12/old-westbury-horse-stables-and-track.html