Half Pudding Half Sauce: Otto Kahn

Conceptual trivia question - if you know the details from above - who would be Otto Kahns contemporary???

Is something the matter with Otto Kahn

Or is something the matter with me?

I wrote a note and told him what a star I would make.

He sent it back and marked it "Opened by mistake."

I'd even get fatter for Otto Kahn,

As all prima donnas must be.

I studied with Scotti, if you know what I mean.

He said I had the finest diaphragm he had seen!

And if my high C don't hand Otto a thrill,

I think my tra-la-la will.

Fanny Brice - 1927

View of Kahn Estate from across pond

THIS is at Morristown, New Jersey. It belongs to Mr. Kahn.

"CEDAR COURT" PLOT PLAN

Cedar Court, panoramic view of house, ca. 1900

A DISTANT VIEW OF "CEDAR COURT" FROM THE GOLF COURSE TO THE NORTH

The house was built about ten years ago by Carrere and Hastings, and the grounds were laid out by them also. The house is good Italian in style, with red tile roof and white plaster walls. It occupies the top of a hill, the land sloping away on all sides, and is surrounded by a rich rolling country.

Cedar Court, panoramic view of entrance from Columbia turnpike, ca. 1900

Cedar Court, entrance from Columbia turnpike, ca. 1910

One enters the place through two entrances. There are lodges at each of them. The west approach is a winding one, not of great length, and of secondary importance.

THE ENTRANCE AND LODGE

WINDING MILE-LONG ENTRANCE DRIVE

Cedar Court, the driveway, ca. 1900

The south one is the principal one, and is first through a short straight avenue of maples, then by a long winding drive of about half a mile in length, through a grove, and then up to the house by a rather steep grade.

The exteriors of these two houses at Morristown, N. J., which were built for two sisters, are identical The two fine native cedars in the foreground, which were found at the place, were made the keynote of the entire composition. The axis of the court centers between them.

The two dwellings form two sides of the court, the pergola the third side. The fourth side, through which the houses are approached, is treated with a balustrade.

The entrance-court is an exceedingly pretty one. It is about 125 by 100 feet. It is enclosed on the entrance side by a stone balustrade. Two cedar trees mark its entrance(the two cedar trees for which the estate was named), with a portion of the house, the sun parlors, opposite.

Cedar Court, newly constructed front entrance, ca. 1900

Cedar Court, front entrance and fountain, ca. 1915

Cedar Court, view from terrace looking east, ca. 1915

The house is on one side of the court and a pergola on the other side. An oblong marble basin is in the middle, with a fountain at each end of it. It is out lined with a low box hedge and grass border. The pergola is prettily covered with wisteria.

THE ENTRANCE-COURT AND ENTRANCE TO THE HOUSE FROM THE SOUTH

COURTYARD VIEW

ANOTHER VIEW

THE SUNKEN GARDEN ON THE EAST

ANOTHER VIEW

On the north side of the house is a croquet court, and on the northeast a sunken garden, and on the east side of it is a terrace of grass and a high retaining wall on the outside. The service entrance is on the west side and completely hidden by trees and shrubs.

THE ROSE GARDEN AND AND THE SQUASH BALL HOUSE

Cedar Court, rose garden, ca 1910

Cedar Court, tennis court, ca 1900

To the south, at a short distance beyond the pergola, is a rose garden, and near by that a tennis court. A little farther on is a building for squash ball. The stables are to the west of the house, about one thousand feet from it, and well hidden.

Cedar Court, pond designed by John Brinley, ca 1915

DUCKS ON A POND AT "CEDAR COURT"

A pond with aquatic plants and swans upon it is in the lawn at the foot of the hill, to the north of the house. To the west and north a golf course stretches away over many acres of lawn and park.

View of Kahn Estate, circa 1900.

It is a very attractive place, and one of the most successful of the modern ones. It shows how effectively some of the most beautiful features of the Italian villas may be adapted to our needs and conditions, it also shows, particularly in its tennis courts, golf course, squash court, etc., what might be termed typical american work.

The property sprawled over 176 lush, level acres, 136 of which had been tamed and trimmed into luxuriant gardens and grounds while the remaining 40 acres were farmland.

Otto H. Kahn (1867-1934) came to America in 1893 to work for the New York Investment bank of Kuhn, Loeb & Company and became a colossus of finance before World War I. He was one of the country's most important patrons of opera, drama, and fine art. He made a considerable fortune, augmented by his wife's family wealth. His house at Morristown was the first of several expensive residences.

The twin villa's of "Cedar Court"

Cedar Court, view from pond

"Cedar Court" was commissioned by Abraham Wolff as a residence for his daughter and son in-law. During its construction, Wolff's daughter Clara married Henri Wertheim of Holland, and Wolff commissioned a second villa, identical to the Kahns' house, to be built at a right angle to the first dwelling overlooking a shared garden terrace. Mrs. Henri Wertheim died during childbirth in 1902.

Cedar Court, adjacent mansions before 1905 fire, view from pond

Cedar Court, altered photograph showing only one of the adjacent houses

The Kahn portion burned to the ground in 1905.

THE APPROACH AND ENTRANCE TO THE ENTRANCE-COURT

The main building was an Italianate mansion of magnificent proportions. The living space in the residence, including a wing connected to it by a glorious glass-enclosed pagoda, totaled forty rooms.

During this time the Kahn's took over the entire property, moving into the remaining villa.

THE FOUNTAIN AND BASIN FROM THE NORTH

THE SAME FROM THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION, THE PERGOLA ON THE LEFT

They added a ballroom addition where their old home once stood. The 1,100-acre site in the Normandy Heights section of Morristown was at the time one of the most elaborate properties in an area known for its millionaires.

"CEDAR COURT"

The double-tower design of both houses was derived from the Villa Medici in Rome but also bore a resemblance to the Alcazar Hotel in St. Augustine, Florida, another Carrere & Hastings design. The over stuffed stucco structures with red-tile roofs seem somewhat out of place in the New Jersey countryside.

"CEDAR COURT" - FOUNTAIN AND DRIVEWAY

Kahn's impressive art collection included a Frans Hals, a Rembrandt, and George Romney's "The Three Children of Captain Little" Otto Kahn's lifestyle was grand and always theatrical - one party for his daughter Maud included performances by tenor Enrico Caruso, ballerina Anna Pavlova and French music hall performer Yvette Guilbert. An elegant dresser with a courtly demeanor, Kahn ran "Cedar Court" in the manner of European aristocratic families, with formal meals and a large retinue of servants. He spared no expense on stylish settings and gifts for his family, and he spent lavishly on the house and grounds. Yet Kahn was only marginally accepted in the social circles of Morristown and the Somerset Hills and could not break into such caste-protective enclaves as the Morris County Golf and Country Club, where he was blackballed after seeking membership. Although he contributed much to the area, in 1920 Kahn and his family decamped for "Oheka", their vast Delano & Aldrich designed estate at Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island.

The estate had cost Kahn over a million dollars; he would sell it for $250,000. Mr. Kahn had employed between fifteen and twenty-two men year-round just to maintain the grounds.

View of front entrance and gardens during the time of The Physiatric Institute - 1920

Kahn sold his estate to Dr. Frederick Allen. Carrere & Hastings returned to "Cedar Court" in 1922 to undertake alterations for its conversion to the Psychiatric Institute, a medical treatment center. Dr. Allen helped introduce insulin for the treatment of diabetes. Because the property had been vacant and deteriorating for several years, there were repairs to consider, and the nine hot-air furnaces would have to be replaced with central steam heat before the first winter. The project was not successful; however, several years later after Mr. Kahn’s death, the Kahn family decided to raze “Cedar Court” to save taxes.

The property lay idle for more than a decade, until Allied Chemical Corporation(Honeywell) purchased the estate in 1942 for $32,500.

By 1948 a laboratory built on the hilltop where “Cedar Court” had stood was ready for its staff of 150 scientists. Click HERE to see a 1931 aerial showing the estate still extant. Ongoing disputes with a planed redevelopment of the property and the recent announcement of the company's move from the area have riled local activists.