Mansions of the Gilded Age: Long Island Gold Coast Estates from the Air I

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Long Island Gold Coast Estates from the Air I

Spring Hill, Old Westbury

Morgan's Island, Glen Cove

Pembroke, Glen Cove

5 comments:

Karena said...: Such a breautiful vantage point Gary! You would think they would appear smaller however they are still huge properties from the air!

Karena
Art by Karena; May 22, 2010 at 2:10 PM
Gary Lawrance said...: I love aerial photos, really shows how vast the estates were and the privacy they afforded.; May 22, 2010 at 3:49 PM
ChipSF said...: These are great!; May 23, 2010 at 8:16 PM
Turner Pack Rats said...: in the pembroke pic, whats the purpose of the building almost as big as the house attached to the left? also when was this taken as that house in the foreground looks pretty new? these are phenomenal photos and you are so right - they show the grandeur of these places when you can see the whole design at once.
am a confirmed OLI reader but love this blog too. keep up the good work.

security word def - "ophyd" - word uttered by one of the 400 when they really meant to say something else; June 17, 2010 at 12:58 AM
Gary Lawrance said...: The building to the left was the conservatory. It was added on a little later, but I believe during Capt. Delamar's time. It was a phenomenal space, with a pool and jungle like greenery. I think the Pembroke photo was taken in the mid 1950's. The new building was the former beach house, which was beautiful. I will have to add a photo of that. Capt. Delmare didn't live in the house too long, since he was elderly when he built it and was sold to the Loew family, of Movie theater fame. Before Hollywood, Long Island, especially Astoria, Queens, was the place were many of the great silent films were made. In many of the old silents they used Long Island settings. The Valentino movie, "The Sheik", filmed some of it's desert scenes in Montauk. Being that Pembroke during the 1920's was owned by a movie mogul, he entertained many of the famous stars of that era, like Gloria Swanson and he gave fabulous, wild parties at the estate. It has been said that F. Scott Fitzgerald, was inspired by them for his parties in " The Great Gatsby" and the house also had a long dock, extending into the sound, facing Sands Point. The house which is believed to be the model for Daisy's house was the Swope estate, in style, but Swope also gave big parties, being a publisher, and supposedly Fitzgerald is said to have rented a cottage next to that house. This is one of my favorite subjects and I should do a post someday on just the houses, believed to have inspired Fitzgerald.; June 17, 2010 at 4:39 AM