Harbor Hill was a spectacular Long Island mansion built from 1899-1902 in Roslyn, New York, commissioned by Clarence Hungerford Mackay. It was designed by McKim, Mead, and White, with Stanford White supervising the project. It was the largest home he ever designed.
Clarence Mackay (1874–1938) was the son of Comstock Lode magnate John William Mackay, and inherited much of an estimated $500 million fortune upon his father's death in 1902. White collaborated closely with Clarence Mackay's wife, Katharine Duer Mackay (1880–1930), and with her approval, based the main façade of Harbor Hill upon that of François Mansart's Château de Maisons of 1642, using a mix of other influences to finish the overall design.
Built at great expense and furnished lavishly (at least three different decorating firms were employed), the home originally sat on 688 acres (2.78 km2) and enjoyed views across Roslyn Harbor to the Long Island Sound. Formal terraces and gardens were finished by Guy Lowell. After Harbor Hill was dynamited in 1947, a fountain with four equestrian statues, designed by Henri-Léon Gréber, was moved to Kansas City, Missouri where it has since been on public display adjacent to the Country Club Plaza.
Read more about Harbor Hill: Summit, Remaining Buildings
Famous quotes containing the words harbor and/or hill:
“Now we sing, and do tiny dances on the kitchen floor.
Our whole body is like a harbor at dawn;
We know that our master has left us for the day.”
—Robert Bly (b. 1926)
“A common and natural result of an undue respect for law is, that you may see a file of soldiers, colonel, captain, corporal, privates, powder-monkeys, and all, marching in admirable order over hill and dale to the wars, against their wills, ay, against their common sense and consciences, which makes it very steep marching indeed, and produces a palpitation of the heart.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)