'
Hillair', the
Paul Gilbert Thebaud estate designed by
Snelling & Potter c. 1903 in
White Plains, New York. Thebaud was a commission merchant in NYC with an office at 87 Broad Street. In 1907 one of Thebaud's butlers, John Bjorlin, shot his son Paul Jr. in the face while the boy was sleeping in his bed on the second floor of the house. The butler then shot and killed himself. Paul Jr. survived his wounds, click
HERE to see the various NYTimes stories on the event. The house has likely been demolished.
'Hillair', the Paul Gilbert Thebaud estate designed by Snelling & Potter c. 1903 in White Plains, New York. Thebaud was a commission merchant in NYC with an office at 87 Broad Street. In 1907 one of Thebaud's butlers, John Bjorlin, shot his son Paul Jr. in the face while the boy was sleeping in his bed on the second floor of the house. The butler then shot and killed himself. Paul Jr. survived his wounds, click HERE to see the various NYTimes stories on the event. The house has likely been demolished.
Photos from Architectural Record, 1904.
15 comments:
There's a subdivision off Mamaroneck Avenue in White Plains with "Hillair Circle," "Hillair Court," and "Paddock Road."
Hillair itself seems long gone.
Beautiful house...sad,sad story....
Nice flowing floor plan with the bare minimum amount of space wasted on hallways. Beautiful exterior details and proportions, but a tragic family story. Great post as I did not know about this home.
Thebaud seems to have been chronically unlucky with servants:
http://fultonhistory.com/newspaper%202/Syracuse%20NY%20Evening%20Telegram/Syracuse%20NY%20Evening%20Telegram%201902.pdf/Newspapers%20Syracuse%20NY%20Evening%20Telegram%201902%20-%200096.PDF
(See leftmost column, down page.)
The younger Thebaud seems to have recovered nicely:
http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2014/New%20York%20NY%20Herald/New%20York%20NY%20Herald%201914/New%20York%20NY%20Herald%201914%20-%200183.pdf
(From those Times stories, one might have thought his nose had been shot off -- which seems not to have been the case.)
One more, with a great photograph:
http://www.chromjuwelen.com/en/network/228-blog-hemmings/133397-the-gjg-on-the-track.html
(The younger Thebaud seems have lived to be 94.)
Ancient, I cannot find any combination of your link/links that will open from your first comment.
I wonder what possessed the butler, and what the fight was about with the other butler to have him react so drasticly...maybe a lover's spat?
TDED --
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&q=%22Hillair+Circle%22+and+White+Plains&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=606&bih=437&wrapid=tlif132403636690610&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x89c293ff45df5a45:0x557e0534145ad8c6,Hillair+Cir,+White+Plains,+NY&gl=us&ei=njDrTpqbEuL30gHDzujZCQ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CB0Q8gEwAA
Ancient---it was the Fulton History link, apparently to further tales of servant problems, that I could not open :-(
Dilettante --
1) Make sure you copied the entire link.
2) Make sure your version of Adobe Acrobat is current.
(I just tested it, and it works fine.)
VALET KERN IS UNDER ARREST IN NEW ORLEANS
Man Who Stole $50,000 Worth of Diamonds From His Bmployer Caught.
New York, Jan. 16.-Captain Titus of the detective bureau said this morning that he was as sure as he could be without having seen the prisoner, that the man held (by the New Orleans police was Valet Kern, who robbed his employer, Paul Gilbert Thebaud of $50,000 worth of jewelry.
Mr. Thebaud called at Captain Titus' office this morning and agreed that if the New Orleans prisoner persisted in denying that he was Kern he would go to New Orleans to look at him.
What a stunning house from the outside. This is Vanderbilt kind of stuff.
Paul Thebaud was not disfigured, but he did have a dent in his forehead. No one in the family knows exactly why he was shot, but the servant was an interesting character, a ne'er-do-well son of a prominent Northern European family, picked up during their travels in France. Hillair was their summer cottage. The old stables and carriage barn were taken down just a few years ago. The picture above, was taken before the house and gardens and greenhouses were completed. Now the family is perhaps best known for their racing yacht, the Gertrude L. Thebaud, and its celebrated races with the Bluenose. Paul's mother, Nathalie, helped found the Colony Club with their neighbors, the Harriman's. Paul's father donated the original building for the Nantucket Yacht Club, and their other cottage, Fair Winds (?Fairwinds), still sits up over the harbor on Cliff Road. Hillair was taken down in the 1930s. It's hard to call the family history tragic, though they are not worth the near-billion (in today's dollars) that they were at the time.
Paul's cousin, I believe, was an Astor.
The only thing left at the estate
are huge beautiful estate trees, and at one time most likely a great view. - sad
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