"Winfield Hall"

   SINCE well-to-do Americans began to build costly country houses during the ninth decade of the last century the style and character of these houses has passed through a number of different phases. The first type consisted of the villa, erected usually on a rather limited site and situated on the sea-shore. It was, of course, the country house of a city business man, intended for occupancy only during a few months in the year. When these villas began to be built soon after 1880, conditions of life, even among rich people, were comparatively simple. 

   The American millionaire was still much more interested in making money than in spending it. He did not maintain a very large establishment, and his seashore residence was usually an informal rambling structure, belonging to no particular architectural style, surrounded at most by a few acres of land and in every way lacking in pretension and in social self-consciousness.

   This particular phase did not last very long. American fortunes quickly increased during the eighties in number and in amount; and the increase was immediately reflected in domestic architecture. The typical country residence of the New York millionaire during the last decade of the nineteenth century remained a villa, erected on a comparatively small acreage of land near the water and intended for occupation only during the very hot weather, but it became an elaborate, costly and even palatial villa. The type passed quickly from informality to formality, from a nondescript architectural style to many specific styles belonging to as many specific periods, and from a complete lack of social pretension to a conspicuous assertion of social position. Most of the houses of this type were situated in New York. They indicated clearly that the family of the American millionaire, if not the millionaire himself, had become interested in spending money and in reproducing in this country the manner, the way of life and the architectural scenery of rich Europeans of high social position.

   The palatial villa did not, however, remain in favor for very long. The families of the millionaire soon demanded country houses in which it was pleasant and convenient to live during the spring and the fall as well as during the summer and which furnished to their owners a larger variety of interests and occupations, associated with life in the country. This demand jumped into prominence early in the present century, and it was immensely stimulated by the improvement of the automobile and the consequent diminution of distance as an impediment to social intercourse in the country. 

   Millionaires began, consequently, to buy estates with considerable acreages, situated within motoring distances of the large cities, and they began to build on them houses which they proposed to occupy five or six months of the year. On the whole, these houses tended to lose the palatial appearance which characterized the villas of Newport, but they remained, of course, elaborate and costly residences which required for their operation and maintenance large numbers of servants, which provided the scenery for a life of some leisure, and which were occupied by people given over chiefly to country sports, such as hunting, polo and golf. In design these houses were usually an improvement on their predecessors. They were less formal and less pretentious and occupied a more close relation to the lives of their occupants. Their architects were allowed to spend much more money on designing the approaches to the house and the lay-out of the grounds surrounding it than had formerly been the case.

PLOT PLAN - RESIDENCE OF F. W. WOOLWORTH. ESQ., GLEN COVE, L. I.   C. P.  H. GILBERT, ARCHITECT.

   The house of the late F. W. Woolworth, Esq., at Glen Cove, Long Island, occupies an interesting relation to the two different types of domestic architecture which are roughly sketched above. In most respects it belongs to the second class of country house. It is situated on a comparatively large acreage within motoring distance of New York, and the architect has given quite as much attention to the lay-out of the grounds as he did to the design of the house. But it also bears an interesting relationship to some of the larger of the Newport villas. It tends to be palatial in its dimensions and in the magnitude of its effects. It is an extremely formal building, which is entirely lacking in that homely atmosphere which surrounds many of the more modern country houses of comparatively rich people. It is designed rather to be seen and admired than to be lived in by a particular family with interests and occupations of its own associated with life in the country. On the other hand, its formality is simple and spacious. The architect has in the facades of the building carefully avoided any excess of ornamentation and he has in every aspect of his design, both inside and outside, been scrupulously correct.

VIEW FROM BELVEDERE, - RESIDENCE OF F. W. WOOLWORTH. ESQ., GLEN COVE, L. I.   C. P.  H. GILBERT, ARCHITECT.

BELVEDERE, FROM FRONT ENTRANCE - RESIDENCE OF F. W. WOOLWORTH. ESQ., GLEN COVE, L. I.   C. P.  H. GILBERT, ARCHITECT.

BELVEDERE - RESIDENCE OF F. W. WOOLWORTH. ESQ., GLEN COVE, L. I.   C. P.  H. GILBERT, ARCHITECT.

   The estate consists of some wellwooded land overlooking the Sound. It is approached by a long winding driveway, lined by trees, which does not afford a view of the house until the visitor reaches a long oval court, lined by evergreens to which the scale of the house is nicely adjusted. The relation between the building and the formal approach to it is one of the most interesting aspects of the design. The house itself is one of the few successful examples of the flatroofed residences in this country. A flat-roof, of course, forbids anything like a picturesque and informal effect, and it almost forces the architect to use stone in the structure of the building rather than brick. Flat-roofed houses tend, consequently, to be palatial and they also tend to be dull. The Woolworth house is saved from dullness only by its successful formality. Its exterior is conceived and executed in the grand style. Notwithstanding the large number of rooms the plan is simple and convenient.

ENTRANCE - RESIDENCE OF F. W. WOOLWORTH, ESQ., GLEN COVE. L. I.    C. P. H. GILBERT. ARCHITECT.

MANTEL IN HALLWAY - RESIDENCE OF F. W. WOOLWORTH. ESQ., GLEN COVE, L. I.   C. P.  H. GILBERT, ARCHITECT.

DETAIL OF HALLWAY - RESIDENCE OF F. W. WOOLWORTH. ESQ., GLEN COVE, L. I.   C. P.  H. GILBERT, ARCHITECT.

   The visitor enters through a spacious hall which runs through the house and leads straight to the formal garden on the other side. 

MUSIC ROOM - RESIDENCE OF F. W. WOOLWORTH. ESQ., GLEN COVE, L. I.   C. P.  H. GILBERT, ARCHITECT.

DETAIL OF MUSIC ROOM - RESIDENCE OF F. W. WOOLWORTH. ESQ., GLEN COVE, L. I.   C. P.  H. GILBERT, ARCHITECT.

PICTURE WINDOW IN MUSIC ROOM - RESIDENCE OF F. W. WOOLWORTH. ESQ., GLEN COVE, L. I.   C. P.  H. GILBERT, ARCHITECT.

   As you enter there is a foyer hall on the left which leads to the music-room. This is the largest and the most important and the most elaborately designed room in the house. This same foyer hall also provides an approach to the library. 

DINING ROOM - RESIDENCE OF F. W. WOOLWORTH. ESQ., GLEN COVE, L. I.   C. P.  H. GILBERT, ARCHITECT.

   On the right of the entrance hall is the dining room and to the right of the dining room the kitchen, pantry and offices. The interior design preserves the grandiose character of the exterior; but except for certain rooms it has not preserved the same simplicity. 

MANTEL IN BEDROOM - RESIDENCE OF F. W. WOOLWORTH. ESQ., GLEN COVE, L. I.   C. P.  H. GILBERT, ARCHITECT.

DOORWAY IN BEDROOM - RESIDENCE OF F. W. WOOLWORTH. ESQ., GLEN COVE, L. I.   C. P.  H. GILBERT, ARCHITECT.

PORCH - RESIDENCE OF F. W. WOOLWORTH. ESQ., GLEN COVE, L. I.   C. P.  H. GILBERT, ARCHITECT.

   The design of some of the apartments is hurt rather than helped by the amount of ornamentation, but it should be added that the ornament is always correct and the house contains some very interesting examples of modern woodwork.

GARDEN AND TEA HOUSE - RESIDENCE OF F. W. WOOLWORTH. ESQ., GLEN COVE, L. I.   C. P.  H. GILBERT, ARCHITECT.

WEST PORCH - RESIDENCE OF F. W. WOOLWORTH. ESQ., GLEN COVE, L. I.   C. P.  H. GILBERT, ARCHITECT.

WEST TERRACE - RESIDENCE OF F. W. WOOLWORTH. ESQ., GLEN COVE, L. I.   C. P.  H. GILBERT, ARCHITECT.

   The interest of the Woolworth house is increased rather than diminished because of the fact that it belongs to a type of domestic architecture which is destined to disappear. In the future it is improbable that even very rich men will want or can afford a big grandiose formal residence of this kind. The high rate of income taxation will diminish the number of those who can build them, and the enormously increased cost of service will cut down the number who can operate and maintain them. Moreover, it is probably that families who occupy buildings with more than a limited provision for the accommodation of servants will eventually have to put up with special burdens. There is a tendency to tax luxuries which may in the end include dwellings with a certain number of servants' rooms in its scope. The country residence of the American millionaire of the future will, we may confidently predict, again become a smaller and more informal and a less pretentious building.

FIRST FLOOR PLANS - RESIDENCE OF F. W. WOOLWORTH. ESQ., GLEN COVE, L. I.   C. P.  H. GILBERT, ARCHITECT.

SECOND FLOOR PLANS - RESIDENCE OF F. W. WOOLWORTH. ESQ., GLEN COVE, L. I.   C. P.  H. GILBERT, ARCHITECT.

Click HERE for link to wikimapia. 

"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.***

Residence of Philip Sears, ESQ., Brookline, Mass.

FRONT VIEW - RESIDENCE OF PHILIP SEARS, ESQ., BROOKLINE, MASS. Bigelow & Wadsworih, Architects.

FIRST FLOOR PLANS - RESIDENCE OF PHILIP SEARS, ESQ., BROOKLINE, MASS. Bigelow & Wadsworih, Architects.

SECOND FLOOR PLANS - RESIDENCE OF PHILIP SEARS, ESQ., BROOKLINE, MASS. Bigelow & Wadsworih, Architects.

DETAIL OF ENTRANCE - RESIDENCE OF PHILIP SEARS, ESQ., BROOKLINE, MASS. Bigelow & Wadsworih, Architects.

HALL TOWARDS STAIRS - RESIDENCE OF PHILIP SEARS, ESQ., BROOKLINE, MASS. Bigelow & Wadsworih, Architects.

HALL TOWARDS DINING ROOM - RESIDENCE OF PHILIP SEARS, ESQ., BROOKLINE, MASS. Bigelow & Wadsworih, Architects.

DINING ROOM  - RESIDENCE OF PHILIP SEARS, ESQ., BROOKLINE, MASS. Bigelow & Wadsworih, Architects.

DEN - RESIDENCE OF PHILIP SEARS, ESQ., BROOKLINE, MASS. Bigelow & Wadsworih, Architects.

LIBRARY - RESIDENCE OF PHILIP SEARS, ESQ., BROOKLINE, MASS. Bigelow & Wadsworih, Architects.

 Unfortunately I haven't found any information on who Mr. Sears was or if this property is still extant.

"Pidgeon Hill"

SEPTEMBER, 1920
"PIDGEON HILL" RESIDENCE of MEREDITH HARE, ESQ., Huntington, L.I. ~ Charles A Platt - Architect
By
HERBERT CROLY

FRONT ELEVATION -"PIDGEON HILL" RESIDENCE OF MEREDITH HARE, ESQ., HUNTINGTON, L. I.  CHARLES A. PLATT, ARCHITECT

IT was something less than twenty years ago that well-to-do residents of New York began to build new houses on Long Island, within easy commuting distance of the city. Since then the district on Long Island between twenty and forty miles from the Pennsylvania Station has steadily increased in popularity. Improvements in transit by motor and the construction of the tunnels under the East River have had much to do with this increase in popularity, but it is also traceable to the desire of New Yorkers for country houses, at a convenient distance from the city, which were available for residence throughout the whole of the year and that afforded the opportunity not only for the usual country games and sports, but for gardening, farming, the raising of stock and the other less frivolous occupations of rural life. A much more wholesome attitude towards the country has prompted the building of the Long Island houses than the attitude which prompted the earlier building of villas, sometimes by the same families, either at Newport or anywhere else on the coast.



This more wholesome attitude is expressed in the character and the design of the houses. There are comparatively few examples on Long Island of the pompous formality and the palatial pretentiousness which characterized so many houses erected by rich Americans during the last decade of the nineteenth century. More and more the builders of the new houses have started with their minds fastened on the kind of residence which an English country gentleman would wish rather than a seventeenth century nobleman; and this comparative unpretentiousness of outlook has released the architects of these buildings from the necessity of complying with many embarrassing and paralyzing demands. The newer houses have usually remained formal, which is a good thing, because sound architectural design requires a large infusion of formality; but their avoidance of mere informality and picturesqueness has not stood in the way of a great gain in individuality, in homeliness, and in domestic propriety. In many cases the houses bespeak a living relationship with the people who occupy them; and the people who occupy them possess standards and interests which are adapted to sincere, beautiful and significant expression. When the history of American domestic architecture of the existing generation comes to be written, the Long Island houses, particularly those built during the past twelve or thirteen years, will form the best and the richest material which the historian will have to use.


Long Island before the advent of the modern architectural movement possessed the advantage of a peculiar species of domestic design. The usual farmhouse of that region was not clap-boarded or sheathed but was shingled; and the shingles were somewhat larger in size than those used elsewhere, somewhat thicker and were painted white. Since in a wooden building so much of the effect depends upon the surface, the texture, and the delineation of the material, these Long Island shingles, super-imposed upon the generally good lines and appropriate details of the early farmhouse, created perhaps the most interesting type of small residence, for the use of the yeoman farmer, which was erected in this country. It certainly created a type which was more flexible than the New England farmhouse, and whose elements could be developed and varied without necessarily losing the merits of the original design. It is no wonder, consequent'y, that during the revival of domestic building that has recently taken place on Long Island the builders have frequently altered and enlarged the old farmhouses. In many cases they have succeeded in converting them from the residences of yeomen farmers into the residences of gentlemen farmers, without any falsification of the original type.


In some few instances, however, architects have perpetuated the type not merely in alterations but in an entirely new building. Such is the case with the house of Mr. Meredith Hare at Huntington, Long Island, designed by Charles A. Platt. The Hare residence is an excellent example of the very best qualities which are now characterizing American domestic architecture. It combines in a very happy way spaciousness with economy. Architects always find it difficult to design a house which locks ample enough to form the background for a liberal life without becoming wasteful of space; but in Mr. Hare's house, Mr. Platt has succeeded in excluding all superfluities while retaining an atmosphere of generosity and abundance. He has kept the scale and the general appearance of a Long Island farmhouse, which formed, of course, the background for anything but a spacious life; and without departing from the unpretentious simplicity essential to the type, he has designed a building which forms an entirely appropriate residence for people with leisure who prefer to devote the time, no longer occupied with the struggle for existence, to cultivating the arts and amenities of life. This house was designed, and successfully designed, for the purpose of providing an appropriate setting for the life of a particular family. When a nation educates architects who are capable of creating propriety of relationship between buildings and lives, and when the life which is expressed in the building possesses sincerity, distinction and value, it is by way of creating a domestic architecture which will endure, and deserve to endure, in the aesthetic consciousness of future Americans.


But, of course, a country house needs also another kind of propriety. It needs to fit not only the lives of its occupants, but also the particular site on which it is built. There are some residences, of which the Newport palaces form the perfect illustration, which can never become adapted to their sites. There are others, of which one finds so many examples in England, that, while they were not designed for their sites, have after a few hundred years grown into the landscape and now look as if they were always intended to be just where they are. Finally, there are others that only a few years after their erection look as if they had grown up on their site. They obtain their confirmation not from the weathering of time, but from their intimate relationship to the advantages and limitations of their immediate surroundings. 


Among the many American architects who have made a personal contribution to American domestic architecture there is none who has so frequently succeeded in providing for his clients buildings which in a few years look as if they had been a very long time where they are. Mr. Hare's house does not look old yet. It is not old enough to settle down into its landscape with gentlemanly assurance and with complete self-possession. A few more years must elapse before it will become really mellow. 

BLOCK PLAN -"PIDGEON HILL" RESIDENCE OF MEREDITH HARE, ESQ., HUNTINGTON, L. I.  CHARLES A. PLATT, ARCHITECT

But it is clearly becoming mellow very rapidly; and if the reader would like to know why, he can discover the reason by examining the plan and the lay-out in relation to the design. The scale and the dimensions of the house are nicely adjusted to a site which demanded intimacy and some informality of treatment. This the illustrations clearly show. 

FIRST FLOOR PLAN -"PIDGEON HILL" RESIDENCE OF MEREDITH HARE, ESQ., HUNTINGTON, L. I.  CHARLES A. PLATT, ARCHITECT

SECOND FLOOR PLAN - "PIDGEON HILL" RESIDENCE OF MEREDITH HARE, ESQ., HUNTINGTON, L. I.  CHARLES A. PLATT, ARCHITECT

FRONT PORCH - "PIDGEON HILL" RESIDENCE OF MEREDITH HARE, ESQ., HUNTINGTON, L. I.  CHARLES A. PLATT, ARCHITECT 

What they cannot show so well is the success with which the porch of the house provides its residents with an introductory approach to that which is best worth looking at in the surrounding landscape.

GARDEN ELEVATION  -"PIDGEON HILL" RESIDENCE OF MEREDITH HARE, ESQ., HUNTINGTON, L. I.  CHARLES A. PLATT, ARCHITECT

GARDEN ELEVATION -"PIDGEON HILL" RESIDENCE OF MEREDITH HARE, ESQ., HUNTINGTON, L. I.  CHARLES A. PLATT, ARCHITECT

DETAIL OF GARDEN ELEVATION  -"PIDGEON HILL" RESIDENCE OF MEREDITH HARE, ESQ., HUNTINGTON, L. I.  CHARLES A. PLATT, ARCHITECT

DETAIL OF GARDEN ELEVATION  -"PIDGEON HILL" RESIDENCE OF MEREDITH HARE, ESQ., HUNTINGTON, L. I.  CHARLES A. PLATT, ARCHITECT

EAST END OF TERRACE -"PIDGEON HILL" RESIDENCE OF MEREDITH HARE, ESQ., HUNTINGTON, L. I.  CHARLES A. PLATT, ARCHITECT

STAIR HALL -"PIDGEON HILL" RESIDENCE OF MEREDITH HARE, ESQ., HUNTINGTON, L. I.  CHARLES A. PLATT, ARCHITECT

LIBRARY AND LIVING ROOM -"PIDGEON HILL" RESIDENCE OF MEREDITH HARE, ESQ., HUNTINGTON, L. I.  CHARLES A. PLATT, ARCHITECT

DINING ROOM -"PIDGEON HILL" RESIDENCE OF MEREDITH HARE, ESQ., HUNTINGTON, L. I.  CHARLES A. PLATT, ARCHITECT

A SECLUDED SPOT -"PIDGEON HILL" RESIDENCE OF MEREDITH HARE, ESQ., HUNTINGTON, L. I.  CHARLES A. PLATT, ARCHITECT

House demolished and surrounding one-hundred acre property developed for residential housing in the 1960's. Click HERE to see the  estate still extant. HERE for a earlier post on "Pidgeon Hill".