I'm going to call this the best house in the Village of Millbrook. It's no hilltopper mansion surrounded by a great estate. To the contrary, it sits on a mere two-acre lot on Maple Avenue. If it had been in Frank Capra's 1946 film,"It's a Wonderful Life," Jimmy Stewart would have lived next door. My hometown of Millbrook, in the heart of Dutchess County, New York, was architect James E. Ware's (1846-1918) oyster. He designed a slew of the afore-mentioned mansions that still surround the village (including the one I live in) and a few nice houses right in the village itself. This one was designed in 1896 for a Brooklyn native named Clement Wintringham who inherited a small fortune, retired at age 35 and settled down in Millbrook.
Here's the house today, looking remarkably unchanged. As a matter of fact, it is remarkably unchanged. The Wintringhams weren't a very lively bunch. She was the vice president of the Dutchess County Women's Bible Society, and he tried to shoot himself in the head in 1910 and missed, not that there was necessarily a connection. In 1919 a fast-living, hard-drinking, fox-hunting, wise-cracking, good-looking couple named Maude and David Sloan bought the place. No doubt life was a lot livelier under the Sloans.
There's a persistent rumor in the village that Maude Sloan won this house in a bridge game. She was a gambler and a good time girl - one of her women pals once dropped in for bridge and drinks and wound up in the bushes passed out behind the wheel. However, it is Maude's house and not her lifestyle that is the reason I've posted these photos. I don't think I've ever seen such a bravura job of exterior shingling.
How great are these eaves and gables? How did they even manage to do it?
And what about this double bay window mounted onto a corner of the house? I've never seen anything like that. The sensuously shingled dual curves above the fenestration, melding into separate side walls at right angles to one another, is virtuoso design work. It must have taken a virtuoso carpenter to build it too. After Maude Sloan's death in the mid-1960s, a parade of unrelated owners occupied the house for almost forty years. It returned to the family in 2000 when Maude's grandson and his wife bought it and retired to Millbrook.
That gable is halfway to Frank Gehry. Amazing piece of work, and great story
ReplyDeleteEnjoying your site very much, thank you!
ReplyDeleteThat corner bay window is amazing, and not even noticeable beyond the property; a sort of
private whimsicality. It seems almost like a witch's hat disappearing into the eave.
I have surmised that a great deal of this
almost theatrical detail and wit is due not just to Ware,as well as his general contractors Mead & Taft, but also in particular his head draftsmen of the 1880-90's, Harde & Short,
who went on to establish their own firm after
the turn of the century; best remembered today for midtown's Alwyn Court, R Thomas Short
went on to become a pre-eminent designer of
cinemas in the tristate area.
Your posts, and even more your essays in the
Independent are always something to look forward to ! thanks, --Patrick
This is house is stunning. Thank you for sharing this one!!
ReplyDeleteI lived in this home as a child from c.1971 - 1976 with my parents and three older brothers. It was a grande home, with well maintained architectural details. The turret of the 1st floor living room was the perfect location for our Christmas tree. - K. Corkins
ReplyDeleteThis house was built by my great grandparents, Henry Clement and Ella May (Beedie) Wintringham. They later moved to Millerton and built a home there - which I am still in search of - that included an elevator to help my aging great grandfather remain mobile....
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