"Goodwin Place"

Published 1920 - author unknown

The house of Philip Goodwin at Woodbury, L. I., is French in style, and is interesting in composition and extremely handsome in its mass and detail. The conditions of grades, exposure and position of the main road passing the property presented an unusual problem. 

RESIDENCE AT WOODBURY, L. I., OF PHILIP L. GOODWIN, OF GOODWIN, BULLARD & WOOLSEY, ARCHITECTS.

The site necessitated building the house on two levels on an "L" shaped plan, with the kitchen, service and kitchen courtyard, dining room and loggia on one floor, and the entrance hall, the living room, library, and principal bedroom on the floor above, on a level with the forecourt. The plan is very well balanced, and the facade facing the dining room terrace is perfectly symmetrical. 

RESIDENCE AT WOODBURY, L. I., OF PHILIP L. GOODWIN, OF GOODWIN, BULLARD & WOOLSEY, ARCHITECTS.

On the entrance side, at the junction of the main body of the house and the service wing, is placed an octagonal tower, two stories in height, containing the stair hall, which gives an unusual and picturesque character to the court.

RESIDENCE AT WOODBURY, L. I., OF PHILIP L. GOODWIN, OF GOODWIN, BULLARD & WOOLSEY, ARCHITECTS.

RESIDENCE AT WOODBURY, L. I., OF PHILIP L. GOODWIN, OF GOODWIN, BULLARD & WOOLSEY, ARCHITECTS.

The plan of the house is as formal as it well could be, and yet it is essentially livable. The drop from one side of the big room, with the level court on the other side, the beautiful staircase leading down as well as up from the entrance hall, the loggia built under the house on the terrace side, and the effect of a balanced two-story house on one side, contrasting with a picturesque one-story house on the other side, yet all consistently treated and forming a perfect whole, give the house an unusual and interesting character.

RESIDENCE AT WOODBURY, L. I., OF PHILIP L. GOODWIN, OF GOODWIN, BULLARD & WOOLSEY, ARCHITECTS.

RESIDENCE AT WOODBURY, L. I., OF PHILIP L. GOODWIN, OF GOODWIN, BULLARD & WOOLSEY, ARCHITECTS.

The style of the exterior is a quite strict adaptation of the early French Renaissance. 

DRAWING ROOM * RESIDENCE AT WOODBURY, L. I., OF PHILIP L. GOODWIN, OF GOODWIN, BULLARD & WOOLSEY, ARCHITECTS.

On the interior the rooms are treated in a freer manner. The big room, although its furniture is old French, quite gives the effect of an Italian room, with no woodwork around the doors or windows, softly modeled plaster walls and richly painted beamed ceiling. The ceiling is made of solid, heavy constructive beams and girders, and is just the right scale for the height and proportions of the room. The design and arrangement of the furniture is extremely good.

RESIDENCE AT WOODBURY, L. I., OF PHILIP L. GOODWIN, OF GOODWIN, BULLARD & WOOLSEY, ARCHITECTS.

RESIDENCE AT WOODBURY, L. I., OF PHILIP L. GOODWIN, OF GOODWIN, BULLARD & WOOLSEY, ARCHITECTS.

The underlying principles of Italian design, its simplicity, directness and studied relationships of mass and wall surfaces contrasting with interesting openings, mark the work of Bigelow & Wadsworth on Mr. Philip Sears' place at Brookline, Mass. (CLICK HERE). The house is a large one, built amid rolling hills with a gentle slope on one side and a wide flat shaded terrace overlooking the valley on the other. It consists of several outside courts and terraces, upon which the various rooms give, and is a closely knit and well balanced plan.


In addition to the aesthetic side, the practical needs of living have been well taken care of, a rare and happy combination. The kitchens and service are conveniently arranged; the service court is placed at one side and hidden; the entrance drive goes to the entrance door and stops there, and the rest of the place is developed into secluded gardens and informal lawns.

RESIDENCE AT WOODBURY, L. I., OF PHILIP L. GOODWIN, OF GOODWIN, BULLARD & WOOLSEY, ARCHITECTS.

From the gateway of the forecourt one gets a view of the fine Georgian facade and the beautiful wall which partially screens the service wing, culminating in the high entrance pavilion.

ENTRANCE HALL * RESIDENCE AT WOODBURY, L. I., OF PHILIP L. GOODWIN, OF GOODWIN, BULLARD & WOOLSEY, ARCHITECTS.

The entrance hall is a most unusual and beautiful room. The ceiling is of dark wood finished with a satiny, ancient texture, and rests on simple walls and columns of fine proportion and finish. The plaster walls have a most interesting texture and color, the finish of the plaster looking like paint that has been put on with a palette knife by a master, and varying in color through greys almost to a yellow, which gives a warmth and glow to the walls almost like old silver gilt. The effect of the whole room is one of great simplicity and great beauty. All the parts are well arranged. The sweep of the stairway is just right for the ceiling height; the doors are well shaped and well placed. In reality it is even finer than the illustration. It is a rare example of that subtle quality so much discussed and so little understood—proportion.

FIREPLACE IN DINING ROOM * RESIDENCE AT WOODBURY, L. I., OF PHILIP L. GOODWIN, OF GOODWIN, BULLARD & WOOLSEY, ARCHITECTS.

LIBRARY * RESIDENCE AT WOODBURY, L. I., OF PHILIP L. GOODWIN, OF GOODWIN, BULLARD & WOOLSEY, ARCHITECTS.

The dining room, the drawing room and the library are all paneled, and the treatment of bookcases set into the wood walls flanking the door in the latter room is particularly worthy of notice.


***Neglected and empty a fire in 1975 destroyed the house.   
Click HERE to see a 1953 aerial showing estate still extant. Remnants of a long allee the stretched to the south of house  remain - click HERE to view where the house stood. HERE to see farm group(no longer extant). Philip Lippincott Goodwin(1885-1958) was the son of James J. and Josephine Sarah Goodwin of Hartford, Connecticut and New York City, he was a graduate of Yale and Columbia, studied architecture in Paris from 1912-1914, started as a draftsman for a New York City firm and became a partner in Goodwin, Bullard & Woolsey, 1916-1921("Apple Trees", "Roundbush", designed Oriental changing houses at "Erchless") He served as 1st Lieutenant, Infantry, in World War I and was a member of the International section, American Commission to Negotiate Peace, 1919.***