"LA SELVA" meaning THE FOREST or WOOD
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| Henry Sanderson 1868-1934 |
"La Selva" is an Italian Renaissance mansion designed by Joseph Hunt of the architectural firm of Hunt & Hunt for investor Henry Sanderson. According to his early Bio, Sanderson lived in Locust Point, N. J. and had a townhouse at 130 East Sixty Seventh Street in New York City(now location of a Charles Platt designed apartment building c. 1907) before building in Oyster Bay. Married three times it was his second wife, Elizabeth Fairchild of New Orleans, who he built "La Sleva" for. In 1915 during the planing and construction the Sanderson's leased "Sunset House" from George Thebaud Maxwell. Historical tidbit - "La Sleva's" phone number was -100- in 1919.
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| Frederick Seymour Wheeler 1861-1936 |
Frederick S. Wheeler, the president of American Can Company purchased the mansion from the Sanderson’s in 1927. He renamed estate "Delwood". In 1960 Mrs. Wheeler sold the property, mansion and all out buildings on the 25 acres to the Glen Cove Hospital. It was then sold in 1960 to the Catholic Church, who maintained it as the Franciscan Monastery and Retreat House.
House next went to Sylvia Kumar, wife of imprisoned former Computer Associates chief Sanjay Kumar. Sanjay Kumar was ordered by a federal judge to pay back $798 million to shareholders after he pleaded guilty to securities fraud. The home was bought(conveniently) by Sylvia Kumar from St. Francis Monastery for $6.75 million in 2001. The plan was to refurbish the property and allow public charitable functions to be held. Listed again in 2009 at $17 million then went to $14.5 million, dropped below $10 million before finally selling in 2012 for $7.25 million. It was feared property would be subdivided. Upkeep reported to be $20,000 a month for taxes and staff.
During 2009 Mansion & Millionaires held their annual Designer Showcase. Most of the following color photos are from this time period or before. Some during the ownership by Kumar others just after St. Francis vacated. Interspersed with the black and white photos are beautiful glass lantern slides from 1930.
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"La Selva" HENRY SANDERSON, Long island, Upper Brookville/Oyster Bay, N. Y.
The approach to the mansion wanders through a cluster of pine trees and ends in front of the
mansion |
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"La Selva" HENRY SANDERSON, Long island, Upper Brookville/Oyster Bay, N. Y.
Within the interiors are extraordinary works of art where craftsmen from Europe and the United States detailed the rooms with carvings, intricate plaster ceilings, delicate iron grillwork and rare stone embossing. The philosophy of eclecticism practiced by the original owners in the design of this estate (the belief that one could create a new whole by bringing together fragments from other times and places) is true elegance at its zenith |
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| Aerial view - NOTE the skylight that provides illumination to the domed stair hall |
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The house, as its name would intimate, is pure Italian in character. Like all Italian villas, it is of stone and steel covered
with stucco and is built long and rambling, with a tile roof colored as though covered with lichens and low in pitch. Although not yet five years old, the house has already acquired a rare atmosphere of age and quiet |
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| The house is approached by a broad circular-forecourt. The stucco has a pebble-dash finish |
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| Front approach to house - Butterfly or open-arms design |
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| Matured landscape |
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| Panoramic view |
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| Designer Showcase 2009 |
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| Front entrance |
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| Entrance detail |
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| Silver door-knocker |
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| Vaulted ceiling vestibule |
From the vestibule, across an expansive hallway to the loggia, each room defines detail and drama and contains many artifacts centuries old
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The vista from this loggia is especially pleasing. One looks along a tapis vert (shown below) to a fountain whose jet of water is thrown high against a background of surrounding columns overhung with wisteria |
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| Wrought iron screen with the estates grapevine motif |
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| During the Kumar ownership |
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| Designer Showcase 2009 |
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| Outdoor terrace - Designer Showcase 2009 |
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| Seating area - Designer Showcase 2009 |
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Steps to the tapis vert
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| View from the fountain between columns topped by merman and mermaid figures, along the tapis vert to the house |
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| Clematis borders the tapis vert - glass lantern slide 1930 |
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| Designer Showcase 2009 |
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| View from bedroom terrace showing the well-worn tapis vert |
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| View from bedroom terrace - |
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| This view is taken from the edge of the pool that forms the centre of a delightful little water garden. The richness of color of the various blooms makes it look as though some artist's palette had suddenly become animate |
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Spring time at "Dellwood" - Glass lantern slide 1930
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| Spring time at "Dellwood" - Glass lantern slide 1930 |
Garden and house tours were common events at "La Selva' and "Delwood".
Alex Sheriffs was superintendent for Sanderson from the beginning of 1915, continued with Wheeler, and then stayed with the Franciscans as superintendent and later as resident until he died in the mid-1980's. His stewardship on the Olmsted Brothers designed property still can be seen today. Lewis & Valentine installed the plantings.
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| Formal garden during the Kumar ownership |
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| View to corner loggia,during the Kumar ownership |
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| Corner loggia during the Kumar ownership |
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| Corner loggia seen in above B\W photo |
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| Corner loggia - Designer Showcase 2009 |
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| Formal garden - 2009 |
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| Formal garden - 2009 |
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| Raised seating area overlooking formal garden and pool - 2009 |
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Bench in formal garden
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| North-east side or library side - 2009 |
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The rhododendron walk and heather garden - Glass lantern slide 1930
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The living room is a magnificently proportioned room, and its furnishings are quite in accord with its vast size. Carved ceiling beams are an unusual note as are the chandeliers, brought from Italy by the late Stanford White. The treatment of the walls, covered by tapestries at the far end of the room, is interesting in that they converge toward the doorway, instead of being at a right angle to the side walls |
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| Empty |
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| Designer Showcase 2009 |
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| Living room - Designer Showcase 2009 |
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| The dining room is typical of the best of the old palaces of Italy. The floor is of dark Levanto marble, while the walls have a faint design in color worked into their rough finish. More than forty coats were applied in order to achieve the present satisfactory tone of the walls. The paintings above the doorway on either side of the fireplace are recessed and come from an old palace in Florence |
In the dining room are a pair of hand-carved 15th century Italian oak doors depicting mythological scenes, armorials, griffins and lions.
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| Empty - painted panels over the doors are gone??? |
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| Designer Showcase 2009 |
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| From the 2009 show - original embed painting intact |
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| Designer Showcase 2009 |
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Side room off dining room - this room in turn connects to the bayed morning room
Designer Showcase 2009 |
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Bayed-morning room with an ornate plaster relief vaulted ceiling
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In the breakfast room is a domed plaster filigree ceiling in the classic mode.
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The circular hall with its winding stair is perhaps the focal point of the house. The softness of the color of the travertine walls, the grace of the curve of the self-supporting staircase, and the delicacy of the wrought iron rail and door make a picture difficult to describe. The tapestry hanging above the stairs is from the Morgan Collection; it represents Emperor Otho's Judgment and dates about 1495. It hung for 300 years at Knole Castle in Kent. The diameter of the well is twenty-five feet and it extends almost to the roof. The hallway is topped by a circular dome of plate glass of cerulean blue which is nine feet in diameter |
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| Designer Showcase 2009 |
One of the most memorable sights on the interior is the main rotunda stair-hall, a circular space of over two stories with an outstanding sweeping curved staircase of stone. Delicate ironwork spirals along the edge of this sculptural centerpiece of the mansion. A sunken living room only a few steps down creates additional architectural interest. The original furnishings were artifacts from the early Italian Renaissance. The floors are exquisitely paved in marble
patterns with a special red Levanto marble installed as a border in the dining hall.
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| During the Kumar ownership |
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| The circular hall |
The mansion has a domed rotunda with a winding travertine staircase.
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| Circular dome of plate glass of cerulean blue which is nine feet in diameter |
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| In the library, surrounded by examples of the old masters on the walls, one has perfect seclusion and quiet, for there is but one door to the room. The handles and locks for the doors, as well as all the ironwork in the house, are particularly noteworthy, having been especially designed. The rug is from the celebrated Salting Collection |
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| During the Kumar ownership |
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| The library - Designer Showcase 2009 |
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| The library - Designer Showcase 2009 |
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| Looking down the hallway from the entrance to the main circular stairway. The walls are of carved Yorkshire stone, especially imported from England. The choir stalls date from the fifteenth century and are from an old Italian church. The rug is a splendid Ispahan |
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| Opposite view - looking down hallway into reception room, main loggia on the left |
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| View into circular hall |
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Detail of carving
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| Loggia 1915 |
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Empty
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Empty
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| Designer Showcase 2009 |
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| Decorative panel - hallway into loggia |
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| Designer Showcase 2009 |
Many architecturally significant bedroom suites are on the second level.
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| Mrs. Sanderson's bedroom - Designer Showcase 2009 |
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The mural in the bed alcove(in hues of aqua, ochre, and green) features a Chinese pavilion, mountains, and exotic birds original to the home’s 1915 decor. The technique used is called marouflage, a 3,000-year-old technique whereby artists adhesives were applied to both the wall and the canvas before adding paint.
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| I'm guessing - Mr. Sanderson's bedroom? Empty |
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| Redecorated for the 2009 show |
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| Painted panel over doorway |
In 1928 the Olmsted firm returned to design a large oval swimming pool.
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| Oval swimming pool - 2003 |
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| Oval swimming pool - 2009 |
The grounds are entered from the south and immediately to the left is a range of garages. To the right is a large walled vegetable garden with an intricate iron gate and espaliered fruit trees.
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| Original stables and servant quarters - later converted for automobiles - 2003 |
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| Original stables and servant quarters - later converted for automobiles - 2003 |
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| Original stables and servant quarters - later converted for automobiles - 2003 |
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| Backside of the stables/garage complex - 2003 |
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| Superintendents house - 2003 |
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| Superintendents house - 2003 |
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| Greenhouse and potting shed with root cellar - 2003 |
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| Mrs. James Byrne property owner in 1914. James Byrne owned the property across the street now occupied by "Coe Hall". Byrne's home was "A Country House of Character". |
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| Henry Sanderson ownership 1927 |
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| Property owned by Charlotte Putnman Wheeler , widow of Frederick, 1939 |
Click HERE to see "La Selva" at wikimapia. BING.
The Sanderson family has connections to my area - James Reed Sanderson, first son of two from Henry's first wife, married Dorothy Dickinson, daughter of Albert G. Dickinson founder of Grand Rapids Sticky Fly Paper Co. and Dickinson Brothers Inc. both still in business.
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| Still made today! |
