'Norwood Park', the Murry Guggenheim estate designed by Carrere & Hastings c. 1904 in Elberon, New Jersey. Following Guggenheim's death the house was willed to Monmouth College and has served as their library since 1961. Click HERE for information on the library and HERE to see 'Norwood Park' on bing.
Photos from Architectural Review, 1908.
5 comments:
Simply heaven....Carrere & Hastings were God's......
What is especially nice is that the home has found a useful second life and appears to be well cared for by the university
....except for the giant wing appended to, and forever spoiling, the entrance elevation.
Doug, here is a more direct link to the floorplans :-) http://library.monmouth.edu/about/mansion/touroutline.html
huge and grand though this place is, it is completely dwarfed by the gigantic French classical palace for Herbert Parson, the president of Woolworth, directly across the street. Parson was the president of Woolworth, and some feel that he was trying to outdo his boss's house. Whatever the case, the place is vast, and despite a great hall that looks like a grand hotel lobby, is probably a better job than CPH would have done. Oops, did I say that out loud?
PS, speaking of floor plans, the service arrangements here are among the most unusual I've ever seen in one of these houses---a separate bunch of servant's rooms--probably the menservant's---on the first floor of the wing opposite the service wing. One can't understand the full tale without seeing the basement plan, where there might even have been more bedrooms below, but what is clear is that in addition to the access to the main hall, these rooms had a stair to the basement, which would no doubt have been the route by which servant's living in this wing would get to the kitchen wing (where there are also servant's rooms above. One of the fascinating things about these large beaux arts houses are the complicated programs for moving and housing servants behind the scenes.
I am surprised DED didnt do some extra research and properly credit the new library wing to CPH? I look at it this way. Sure a large much needed functional library wing has been added. Could it have been done more aesthetically pleasing? Probably yes, but unless they located underground, there are not too many options. It is better than most additions and surely better than the university deciding that the existing building doesnt function well at all and needs to be entirely replaced. The Parson mega-mansion is astounding and still impresses in both scale and richness of detail. Also DED touched upon a great subject (oops did I say that) to look further into the vast social hierarchy that existed within the large homes of this period, which tried very hard to function so the owners barely noticed the comings and goings of the staff. I think a Vanderbilt daughter was once quoted as saying she didnt know where the kitchen was located in one of their splendid houses?
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