'Questover Lodge'

'Questover Lodge', the Frederick C. Truslow estate built sometime in the 1890s in Great River.  Truslow was general manager of Williamsburg Cork Works and son of James L. Truslow, cork importer.  'Questover Lodge' is no longer extant.

'Rosemary'

'Rosemary', the Jay Freeborn Carlisle estate designed by Trowbridge & Ackerman c. 1917 in East Islip with landscaping by Vitale, Brinkerhoff and Geiffert.  Carlisle was a partner with the brokerage firm of Carlisle, Mellick & Co., and was a member of the New York Stock Exchange since 1893.  East Islip was also home to Carlisle's Wingan Kennels where he bred Labrador Retrievers and was considered one of the foremost breeders in the country.  He was married to Mary Pinkerton, granddaughter of Allan Pinkerton.  Carlisle died in 1937, the contents of the home went to auction in 1938 and 'Rosemary' was demolished in 1940.

Photo from the Parke-Bernet Galleries Catalog, 1938 and the Year Book of the Architectural League of New York, 1921.

'Woodland'

'Woodland', the Bradish Johnson Jr. estate designed by Isaac Henry Green II c. 1909 in Islip.  Johnson, a financier and member of Bradish Johnson & Co., originally purchased a house called 'Woodland' which sat on the site and subsequently burned in 1905.  'Woodland' was inherited by Johnson's son Aymar and in 1946 the house was sold to the Hewlett School of East Islip and later in 2006 to a developer who subdivided the property.  Click HERE to see 'Woodland' on bing.

'Breeze Lawn'

'Breeze Lawn', originally built for Leander Waterbury c. 1889 and pictured here under subsequent owner Henry G. Timmerman in Islip.  Click HERE for more on 'Breeze Lawn'.

'Allen Winden Farm'

'Allen Winden Farm', the William Dick estate designed by Lamb & Rich c. 1888 in Islip with alterations by Howard Major in 1915 and Adolph M. Dick between 1931-1935.  The home is pictured here under the ownership of Dick's son John Henry Dick.  J. Henry Dick was vice president of the Manufacturers National Bank where his father was president.  J. Henry's son William K. Dick, who would himself inherit 'Allen Winden Farm', married Madeline Force Astor, widow of J.J. Astor IV, in 1916 (which ended in divorce in 1933).  'Allen Winden Farm' was demolished in the 1960s.

'Breeze Lawn'

'Breeze Lawn', the Henry G. Timmerman estate originally built c. 1889 for Leander Waterbury in Islip.  Timmerman was a partner in the stock brokerage firm of Timmerman, Moore & Schuley.  The house has since been demolished.

'Beautiful Shore'

'Beautiful Shore', the William Henry Moffitt estate designed by Palmer & Hornbostel c. 1910 in Islip. Moffitt was president of W.H. Moffitt Realty Corp. and publisher of the Bay Shore Independent. He was also president of the New York State Realty Dealers Association. He sold the above house in the middle of the decade and disappeared after being indicted for grand larceny relating to his real estate dealings. After being on the run for two years including a stay in London, he was arrested in San Jose, CA in 1920. He had been selling people lots in his new development known as 'Nassau Heights No. 3' in Hempstead that were said to be mortgage free and clear in title though the parcels were part of a general mortgage on the property. The NYTimes reported that his real estate dealings involved $4 million and had "a large number of victims" but the specific larceny charge was for $200. Moffitt later said he fled because of the pressure of creditors and the foreclosure of many mortgages and tax liens. Moffitt was apparently eventually able to repay his creditors and returned to California to continue his business there though I do not know whatever became of the grand larceny charges. The house is no longer extant but sat on South Country Road.

The Dedication of Heckscher State Park

A photo of Robert Moses standing on the front porch of the George C. Taylor residence in East Islip at the dedication of Heckscher State Park in 1929. Click HERE for more on the Taylor estate. Photo from Ray Spinzia.

The George C. Taylor Estate

The George Campbell Taylor (1835-1907) estate built c. 1885 in East Islip. Below, the house c. 1924 after alterations. Photos and the following write up from author Ray Spinzia: George Campbell Taylor was the son of the wealthy merchant and banker Moses Taylor from whom George inherited the income from $20 million. After acquiring the Plumb estate, George and his common-law-wife/housekeeper Betsy Head alternately stayed at the Plumb and Taylor mansions. They became despondent and turned to alcohol when Betsy’s eighteen-year-old daughter Lena married their gardener. Local lore has it that Taylor’s alcoholism became so acute that he was unable to climb the stairs to his second-floor bedroom and resorted to drinking himself into a stupor in a log cabin on the estate (seen below). George and Betsy died in 1907 within three months of each other but not before disinheriting Lena, whose husband went on to be the foreman at William Kissam Vanderbilt, Jr.’s Lake Success estate 'Deepdale'.

'Deer Range Farm'

Today's photos and write up come from author Ray Spinzia. Sarah Ives Plumb (1840-1877) purchased 'Deer Range Farm', the 400-acre estate of Edwin Augustus Johnson, Sr. in 1872 in East Islip. After her death, her husband James Neale Plumb (1834-1899) inherited the estate and altered the house to the pictured structure (c. 1884). Upon his death, his son James Ives Plumb inherited the estate. In 1903 he sold the estate, which over the years had increased to 700 acres, to George Campbell Taylor who merged it with his adjoining estate to create a 1,500-acre estate. The Plumbs and Taylor continued to call the estate 'Deer Range Farm'. With Taylor’s death in 1907, the combined estates passed to the Taylor/Pyne family corporation which in 1909 demolished the Plumb mansion, portions of which were incorporated into buildings in the Islip and Bay Shore area (seen below). The remaining Taylor mansion and 1,500 acres remained in the family corporation until 1924 when it was confiscated by Robert Moses and became Heckscher State Park. August Heckscher, Sr. gave Moses the money to acquire the land, hence the name of the East Islip park and parkway. Moses subsequently demolished the Taylor mansion.

'Wereholme'

'Wereholme', the Harold H. Weekes and Lousine Peters estate designed by Grosvenor Atterbury c. 1917 in Islip. Click HERE for more and to see 'Wereholme' as it looks today. Pictures from American Architect & Architecture, 1919.

'Wereholme'

'Wereholme', the Harold Hathaway Weekes & Lousine Peters estate designed by Grosvenor Atterbury c. 1917 in Islip. Weekes was a stockbroker and the son of Arthur Delano Weekes, a former mayor of the Village of Oyster Bay. In 1926 his wife Lousine obtained a divorce while in the French Riviera, which according to the NYTimes came as a surprise to all of their friends, and married a Russian composer two months later in Monaco. 'Wereholme' was passed to their only child Hathaway who in 1960 donated the estate to the National Audubon Society. Today the property is owned by Suffolk County. Click HERE to see 'Wereholme' on google earth and HERE on bing.

Click below to see 'Wereholme' in a 1954 aerial shot.

The Malcolm McBurney Residence

The Malcolm McBurney residence, designed by Delano & Aldrich c. 1915 in East Islip. McBurney was the son of the prominent Dr. Charles McBurney and himself a doctor. He played and won numerous golf championships in the Berkshires in the first decade of the 20th century (his family was from Mass.). The house burned down in the 1970s.

Pictures from Architectural Forum, 1918.