All in Architecture History

The House that Bedding Bought: Cooperstown's 2 Pine Boulevard

One day earlier this year I happened to be walking by the Charles P Rogers showroom on 17th street and noticed this sign out front. Something struck a chord. My great, great, grandfather Fayette Houck had built a stable and coachman’s house in Cooperstown for a man named Charles Rogers Back in 1902. Could the two names be possibly connected? After a little digging, it turned out my hunch was correct the two men were one in the same……

From New Lodge to Rock Cliff - The story of a Newport cottage and some of its owners

Many are familiar with the tales of Newport’s most famous gilded age cottages and the bold-faced names who lived in them; the Breakers and the Vanderbilts, Clarendon Court and the von Bulows, and so on. Part of what makes Newport so interesting for me is also discovering the stories associated with some of the lesser known ones. Each has their own interesting tale to tell. This is the story of one of them.

The Favorite Homes of the Favourite

I am always curious to see how the characters’ homes in films based on lives of historical figures compare to the ones they actually lived. In the case of The Favorite, I thought they stacked up quite well. The film also re-sparked my interest in the queen’s first favorite, Sarah Jennings Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough. Here is a look at some of the homes she lived in throughout her life.

Cooperstown's Lost Homes

I was a little reluctant at first to do a post focusing on Cooperstown’s lost homes and mansions. So often these types of articles read accompanied by a gnashing of teeth and casting blame. For me it’s quite the opposite. Cooperstown, which abounds with architectural treasures, should be celebrated, for few places can boast such good stewardship of their architectural legacy. Through my research, I found some interesting homes, no longer standing, which served to complement the history of the village and its reputation as a resort town….

Uptown Girls: Former Country Villas and Magnificent Mansions on the West Side between 99th and 114th Streets.

As Manhattan’s population surged northward during the latter decades of the nineteenth century, the formerly rural far reaches of the Upper West Side changed remarkably in character.  By 1900, one could find an interesting hodge-podge of former summer homes dating back a century, along with brash newer mansions, middle class townhouses, and apartment buildings. Thanks in large part to the digitization of the photo archives at the New York Public Library and the Museum of the City of New York, this post will look at some the grand homes around Bloomingdale and Morningside Heights as well as what replaced many of them (almost all would disappear by 1930).