HomeMy WebLinkAboutPE-22 FOR OFFICE USE ONLY
,BUILDING-STRUCTURE INVENTORY FORM
" UNIQUE SITE N0. /b3rd� rra PE 22
DIVISION FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION QUAD
NEW YORK STATE PARKS AND RECREATION SERIES
ALBANY, NEW YORK (519)474.0479 NEG. NO.
YOUR NAME: Town of Southold/SPLIA DATE:September 1986
YOUR ADDRESS: Town Hall, Main Road TELEPHONE: (516) 765-1892
Southold, N.Y. 11971
ORGANIZATION (if any)Pouthold Town Community Development Office
. * IN * IN * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
IDENTIFICATION
1. BL1[i.DING NAME(S): Prellwitz house /r�High House ,josh"
2. COUN"T"Y: Suffolk TOWN/CITY: Southold VILLAGE: PecQnic
3. STREET LOCATION: Indian Neck Road
4. OWNERSHIP: a. public ❑ b. private IM
S. PRESENT OWNER: Sam Prellwitz ADDRESS:Pittsburgh
6. USE: Original: Residence Present: Residence
7. ACCESSIBILITY TO PUBLIC. Exterior visible from public road: 'lyes ❑ No ❑
Interior accessible: Explain
DESCRIPTION
H. BUIL[)IN(; a, clapboard ❑ b. stone ❑ c. brick ❑ d. board and batten ❑
MATERIAI.: e. cobblestone ❑ f. shingles O g. stucco ❑ other:
4) STRUCTLIRAL a. wood frame with interlocking joints
SYSTEM: b. wood frame with light members ❑
(if kn(wvn) c. masonry load bearing walls ❑
d. metal (explain)
e. other
10. CONDITION: a. excellent Y b. good ❑ c. fair ❑ d. deteriorated
11. INTEGRITY: a. original site ❑ b. moved ® if so,when" _ 1 91 2 _
c- list mayor alterations and dates (if known): �
From ,Aquebogue by Cornelius S. Mitchill whose daughter
was married to Henry Prelnwitz. Cornelius left the house
PF-RSM II-11 from north to Mrs. Prellwitz.
12. PHOTO: North front fagade 13. MAP: N.Y.S. DOT Southold Quad
m
" p South t
z � e
Z-5p JOG
1'x'
10
Will us = e.
: w
a ? to
�? psCon+tr 4Ar
A
PE 22
F
14. THREATS TO BUILDING: a.none known b. zoning❑ c. roads ❑
d. developers ❑ e. deterioration ❑
f. ether:
15. RELATED OUTBUILDINGS AND PROPERTY:
a. barn b. carriage house ❑ c. garage ❑
d. privy ❑ e. shed ❑ f. greenhouse ❑
g. shop ❑ h. gardens ❑
i. landscape features: adjacent Studio
j. other: fountain
ILS. SURROUNDINGS OF THE. BUILDING (check more than one if necessary):
a.open land ❑ b. woodland 0
c. scattered buildings X1
d.densely built-up ❑ e. commercial ❑
f. industrial ❑ g. residential ❑
h.other: beach
17_ INTFRRELATIONSHIP OF BUILDING AND SURROUNDINGS:
(Indicate if building or structure is in an historic district)
The house and the adjacent studio stand on a cliff
overlooking the beach. The have a commanding view
of Peconic Bay. A flight of steps leads to the
beach front.
18. OTHER NOTABLE. FEATURES OF BUILDING AND SITE (including interior features if known):
The PraJlwitzes, husband and wife were both members of the
National Academy. She , although considered the better
painter, was only an associate member.
See forms P7 21, PF 23, and PF 36 for other Peconic
artists.
SIGNIFICANCE
19. DATE OF INITIAL cONST'RUCTION: 1814
ARCHITECT: _
BUILDER: George Horton moved house in 1912
lo. HISTORICAL AND ARCHITECTURAL IMPORTANCE:
T ote Ppe-1wYtz -f�8�16-1D, - i,�ri� �trfe . 'dth
< K `Rr(�-llWitzN,�chig'ht Nthl.s.ht�-usle. izt 9-17*afI'd-h 2N
r -d-1?y,-Ge er &n' �r*nn.--f-rpf n .Wraa? 36 ask- if 1Aejl> bfigfl `.
It had been built there in 1814 by Joshua Livingston Wells ,
and called "High House Josh
In 1914 the Prellwitzes established their permanent residence
and studio at Peconic and continued to summer there through-
their life.
This house is a cultural landmark and recalls the days early
in this century when Peconic had its colony of artists.
21. SOURCES: Malcolm Preston, "Suffolk on Canvas" Newsday2/23/70
Letter from John B. Shiel, Glen Head, 3 2 '
Joy Bear. 'Peconic' s High House" . The Suffolk Times
lo/4/84
E-
From prepared by Rosemary Skye Moritt, research
assistant.
�,..t ..,�.a• ....� �-'�„ G,d+.. `� 'ate,, �.
�f
1
ti
EDITH MITCHELL PRELLWITZ — poetically serene in their isolation, unlike the busy by artist friends Lemuel Wiles, Irving Wiles, and Ed-
South Orange, New Jersey 1865-1944 resorts of the Island's South Fork. Clearly, in her 1902 ward August Bell. Although Prellwitz was not an avid
East Greenwich, Rhode Island painting Entrance to Peconic Bay, Edith Prellwitz cap- sailor like his Long Island friends, Peconic, with its
In 1844 the Long Island Railroad completed its line tured the "air of rural and moral beauty" that James proximity to New York, proved to be more convenient
to Greenport,on the eastern end of the Island's North Fenimore Cooper had discovered in this area many than Cornish.
Fork, providing the fastest route to Boston, via rail years before—and which he feared would disappear The next year they purchased the house and con-
and ferry. This accomplishment was deplored by when Greenport became a stop on the railroad's verted it to a studio. Seeking more permanent quar-
some who feared it would disrupt the tranquil nature Boston route.'"' Spared by fate, much of the natural ters in 1911, he bought an early-nineteenth-century
of this secluded area, Before any serious effect was beauty was preserved for the next generation, and house and had it transported to property they owned
felt, however, a more direct rail route to Boston was recorded by Edith Prellwitz.105 on Indian Neck, a piece of land jutting into Peconic
completed, making the Greenport line obsolete for Boy. The house was reconstructed on this site, and
that purpose. Relatively minor disruption was caused two adjoining studios were built. In 1914, when Prell-
as the railroad shifted its emphasis to promoting tour- HENRY PRELLWITZ witz and his wife began living there year-round, he
ism on this line. New York City 1865-1940 East Greenwich, began to paint winter scenes of Long Island, one of
Among the summer visitors drawn to the area by Rhode Island the few artists to do so during this period. As evi-
the railroad were artists, including Edith Mitchell Prell- After studying art in New York and Paris, Henry denced in these spontaneous paintings of the area,
witz and her husband, Henry, in 1899. Both artists Prellwitz opened a studio in New York in 1890. In such as Peconic Boy, he delighted in presenting the
had studied in New York and in the ateliers of Paris, 1894 he married artist Edith Mitchell, and the follow- simple, almost abstract patterns of the frozen bay—
and specialized in painting ethereal compositions ing year they built a summer cottage in the artists' devoid of detail and reduced to a limited range of
based on literary subjects. Edith, who also pointed colony of Cornish, New Hampshire. After their cot- delicate hues.706
idyllic landscapes,found the woodlands and marshes tage was destroyed by fire in 1898, they rented a
in Peconic perfectly suited to her artistic temperament summer home in Peconic, Long Island,attracted there
I
"Lo_ng_ Island Landscape Painting 1820-1920"
Ronald G. Pisano. 1985 , page 128
tv
128
PE 22
Preservation Notes•Society for the Preservation of I.ong Island Antiquities*Springy/Summer 1985
t 1
II�I� lj
Havens House,Center Moriches Brookhaven Community Deve lapmenr phaiograph
CENTER MORICHES of Indian Neck Lane on Little Pcconic
Seen here is the Havens House in Bay in Peconic. Cornelius M itchill was a
Center Moriches which is the headquar- direct descendant of Sir Humphrey
ters of the Moriches Bay Historical Mitchell and was kin to the Samuel
Society. Eugene Dooley, Brookhaven Latham Mitchill family of Manhasset
Town Councilman, and Edward Rom- and Plandome. Cornelius Mitchill had
aine,Commissioner of Housing and Com- two daughters, one was Mrs. Adams'
}y 4 munity Development,are discussing the mother,the other daughter. Edith,was a
paint job which was made possible with painter and married Henry Prellwitz.
$6,500 Community Development funds. Cornelius Mitchill left High House Josh
The small wing at the left is the original to Mrs. Prellwitz. There was one son,
Havens homestead that was built c. 1750 Edwin Mitchill Prellwitz, who inherited
or 1767,and the large section at the right the house and who in turn left it to his
• was added by the Havens family at the son,Samuel Babcock Prellwitz,now the
turn-of-the-century, present owder.
Mrs. Adams also reports that Orlando
PECO.NIC Rowland was another famous turn-of-
A recent letter from Frances Mitchill the-century north fork painter in ad-
Jackson Adams, age 86, adds some dition to Benjamin R. Fitz, Edward A.
important details to the information Bell, Irving R. Wiles, Henry Prellwitz,
about High House Josh, the historic and his wife Edith Mitchill Prellwitz; and
house that was written up in the Fall/ reminds us that Gladys Wiles, daughter
Winter issue of Preservation Notes in of Irving Wiles, was likewise a fine
1980. It washer grandfather Cornelius S. artist.*
Mitchill who bought High House Josh in •See Preservation Notes October 1969,Vol.
1912 and moved it to the bluff at the end V.No.3,p.8.
8
PF
PrPllwitz studio
Prellwitz studio
photo P7-RSM 11-12
from south
.+
IM
INS
. �
PE 22
u
}
Desk and Bookcase attributed to Joshua Livingston Wells circa 1800
The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center
Williamsburgh, Virginia 23185
PF. 2 2
DESS: AND BOOKCASE
Attributed to Joshua Livingston Wells (1776-1855)
Aquebogue, Long Island, New York
ca. 1800
Grain-painted pine with brass hardware
This monumental piece of cabinetwork resembles a desk and bookcase and
apparently has been so used and so called by succeeding, generat7is of
the maker's family. However, its many compartments suggest a variety of
other functions which have not yet been identified.
Joshua Livingston Wells made and repaired carriages and coaches,
but he also farmed during fair weather months of the year and worked as
a carpenter during the winter. Indeed., Wells is credited with having
built the first three-story house on Long Island, which was nicknamed
"High House Josh" after its maker. Wells's incredible desk and bookcase
stood in the living room of that three-story house until the structure was
sold, dismantled, moved, and reconstructed on a new site at Indian Neck
in Peconic in 1912, at which time the desk and bookcase was moved next door
into another family dwelling, the "Wells-Hutchinson House." The piece was
purchased by the Folk Art Center in 1981.
81.2000.1
The Abby Aldrich Rockef(7�ller Folk Art Center
Williamsburgh, Virginia 23185