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Home My WebLink AboutGR-23 FOR OFFICE USE ONLY GR �3 BUILDING-STRUCTURE INVENTORY FORM UNIQUE SITE NO. 14310.m1 P6 Red • DIVISION FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION QUAD NEW YORK STATE PARKS AND RECREATION SERIES ALBANY,NEW YORK (518) 474-0479 NEG. NO. YOUR NAME Town of Southold/SPLIA DATE: September 1987 YOUR ADDRESS: Town Hall. Main Road TELEPHONE: (516) 765-18992 Southold , L.I. , N.Y. 11971 ORGANIZATION (if any): Southold Town Community Development Office IDENTIFICATION 1. BUILDING NAMES : Brecknock Hall 2. COUNTY; Suffo k TOWNJCITY: Southold VILLAGE: Greenport l - c 3..STREET LOCATION: Route 25. north Bide 4. OWNERSHIP. a. public ❑ b. private ❑ S. PRESENT OWNER: ADDRESS; 0. USE: Original: Present: 7. ACCESSIBILITY TO PUBLIC: Exterior visible from public road: Yes 14 No ❑ Interior accessible: Explain DESCRIPTION X. BUILDING a. clapboard ❑ b. stone [3 c. brick ❑ d. board and batten IJ MATERIAL.: e- cobblestone ❑ f. shingles C] g. stucco ❑ other: 1). STRUCTURAL a. wood frarne with interlocking joints ❑ SYSTEM: b. wood frame with light members ❑ (if kn(wvn) c. masonry load bearing walls El d. metal (explain) e. other 10. CONDITION: a. excellent EX b. good ❑ c. fair ❑ d. deteriorated ❑ It. INTEGRITY: a. original site KI b. moved ❑ if so,when? c. list major alterations and dates (if known): 12. PHOTO: neg : RSM I-20 13. MAP: N.Y.S. DOT Greenport Quad. from :youth�__ + dt0"\ + tt • ,4 ° { •tl •� e 9 u)� tWin em- !st Ag I ski •'�. _6M � �� ?��21trlaS a illo-irel• •f I?� ilver Lake andyy ext`•• 25 8 cy . + ow H Piles 0 1 r GR .23 " �tec� 14. THREATS TO BUILDING: a. none known ❑ b. zoning ❑ c. roads ❑ d. developers X1 e. deterioration ❑ f. Other: 15. RELATED OUTBUILDINGS AND PROPERTY: a. barn F-1 b. carriage house ❑ c. garage 3—Car d. privy ❑ e. shed EX f. greenhouse EX g. shop ❑ h. gardens ❑ i, landscape features: cottagg/Greenhailse j. other: fine agricultural land lo. SURROUNDINGS OF THE BUILDING (check more than one if necessary): a.open land I b. woodland ❑ c. scattered buildings d.densely built-up ❑ e. commercial ❑ f. industrial ❑ resideniial ❑ Long driveway through h.other: open hello as house is back from treet . Fresh water pond to north of house. 17. INTERRELATIONSHIP OF BUILDING AND SURROUNDINGS: (Indicate if building or structure is in an historic district) Route 25 (the old Kings Highway) is a low-density rural, 2-lane highway. IH. OTHER NOTABLE FEATURES OF BUILDING AND SITE (including interior features if known): Large 2J-story 5-bay, gable roof, stone mansion with cupola. Tightly projecting center bay with pediment and 1-story entrance porch. Two-story stone wing on east. SIGNIFICANCE 1't. DATE OF INITIAL. CONSTRUCTION:_- 1857 - ARCHITECT: BUI LDP R: 20. HISTORICAL AND ARCHITECTURAL IMPORTANCE: Built for David Gelston Floyd , a grandson of William Floyd , a signer of the Declaration of Independence. D. G. Floyd owned several whaling ships and he had a ship chandlery business under the name of Floyd and Skillman. House was constructed of glacial errata found north of the house which was cut into square blocks by Scoteh-_ stone masons from New York. The stone trim was brought from stone quarries on the Connecticut River. The interior partitions of the house are brick. (cont. ) 1. SOURCES. Heckscher Museum Architecture of Suffolk County, 1971. E.K. & F.L. Corwin. _Greenport YesTerday and Today. 1972. 2?. THLNIF Form prepared by Rosemary Skye Moritt , research assistant. GTS 23 (Continued ) 20. HISTORICAL AND ARCHITECTURAL IMPORTANCE Considered to be one of the most unusual and beauti- ful homes on Tong Island . The house was described and illustrated in the Heckscher Museum Catalog which celled it "probably the most splendid Italianate house of the period in the County." The owner was D.G. Floyd in 1873 . J .G. Floyd estate in 1897 and 1906 . Mrs . Julia. Delafield on 1909 map. Delafield in 1929. Mrs . DeLancy Robinson owned circa 1949. Mr. and Mrs. John Haneman, descendant owners in 1959 , who successfully managed the Brecknock Hall Stock Farm on the property. Caretaker ' s house Brecknock Estate Photo : GR—RSM 1-21 North and east elevations From north east Jf{ + � �.�K „tic ;�R}`••`'.4 � ;:` �_ `;` • ..4�4..x ,`rAAt �. ./i.' y ,'��.i t fir. �..r, � V s� .:<� ..�c�q ,s ..'�} •'(! { } yJ,�� /�,�� +''�,�,/{/ ,�� {llS��F.? y'b�.�1�� A��`e''"�,�'��;�' �`�wY 'Z'�.� z✓ti1r� ?I'.�� r+Fi 3>,_y• '�h 4< AK,�fi ? r.; Rti Eo tt .♦ r Y��3� '�. t � a Ye. �- 1 � .�,'� i r r GR 23 r GREENPORT.YESTERDAY AND TODAY least four or five feet thick. Peconic Bay was frozen over all Th winter. There was regular ice boat service for passengers and da, freight between Greenport and Sag Harbor. G.O_ Wells, a hu f Riverhead storekeeper who drove a wagon through this sec- rub ` tion, drove on ice across the bay to Sag Harbor, then to i Greenport and Orient, returning to Riverhead on ice. All thti j winter long Gabriel Cook, Shelter Island, with his oxen, bn freighted goods back and forth to Greenport. Peter Dickerson be drove oxen across for Dr. E.E.D. Skinner when children were ga born. pa During this same winter Capt. E.P. Brown drove from ro Orient to Greenport on ice with a two horse sleigh. Return- he + ing he put on a ton of coal and the liberty pole that was erec- bl ted in Orient and remained until during the war. gr During the year of 1857 there was a financial panic and sh a great wave of religious revivalism swept the country. In 1857 there was constructed in Greenport one of the su most unusual and beautiful homes on Long Island. This was 4 Brecknock Hall built for David Gelston Floyd, a grandson of w William Floyd, who was one of the signers of the Declaration ra of Independence. Mr. Floyd, who came to Greenport from in Mastic, L.I., was the owner of several whaling ships at the a time when Greenport was a well known whaling port. la Mr. Floyd was also engaged in the ship chandelry busi- ti ness under the trade name of Floyd and Skillman. P. The mansion house was built on farm land purchased from J. Young, who at that time owned extensive acrea le on o! t e North Road. The house is constructed of field stone tak- en from the fields on the north side of the house_ This stone was cut into square blocks by Scotch stone masons from New T y York, whose wages were two dollars per day. The stone trim i around the doors and windows was brought to Greenport by schooners from the stone quarries on the Connecticut River. E.K. & F.L. CorwiD. Greenport Yesterday and Today. 1972 40 TODAY THE DIARY OF A COUNTRY NEWSPAPER GR �� -vas frozen overall r The white pine outside woodwork shows no sign of decay to- for passengers and day although it has been exposed to the weather for .i nor. G.O. Wells, a hundred over one I through this sec- years. The flat tin roof, which showed no signs of Harbor, then to rust, was ripped off during the hurricane of 1938. ; rhead on ice. All In the interior of the house all of the partitions dividing he various rooms extend from cellar to the attic and are of i, with his oxen, t t. Peter Dickerson brick.The manor house was built with the idea that gas would 'hen children were be-.used some time in the future for illuminati- -ur o— s`es as gas pipes, which were never used, were installed between the kown drove from Par r Jons dSwell as tin spea ing tubes leading to the various -se sleigh. Return- rooms. Iron registers were also set into the walls for a central 'ole that was erec- hot air heating plant and in every room there is a white mar- war. ble mantle and fireplace in which were installed coal burning nancial panic and grates. All of the windows are equipped with inside blinds or country. shutters. -nport one of the The original plans included ope bathroom. The water Island. This was �� SLIPPlY consiste o a uge wooden tank 6 feet by 10 feet yd, a grandson of 4 feet in depth in the attic, built of white pine planks. Rain f the Declaration water rom t e roof was piped into this tank. bead pipes Greenport from ran from the tank to the bathroom in the kitchen. The orig- ling ships at the incl lead pipes were replaced in 1958. During dry weather ing port. a hand operated force pump connected to a well in the cel- chandelry busi- lar was used to pump water into the elevated tank in the at- man, tic. There was also another underground cistern for rain water land purchased piped to the kitchen. nsive acreage on Mr. Floyd played an important part in the early history field stone tak- of Greenport. Sterling Creek was improved by a bulkhead at souse. This stone the north end for his private yacht. asons from New The following is a list of current prices published in the . The stone trine Times in an early publication: to Greenport by rnnecticut River. E'K- & F.I. Corwin+. ort Yosterda and Today. 197 41 GR 23 r°a a. �I. 30. EZRA PRIME HOUSE 26. ST. JAMES EPISCOPAL CHURCH Orson Swire Fowler, Architect, 1858 Richard Upjohn, Architect, 1853-54 k 4' r'Il 4 31. ICE HOUSE 27. HOUSE AT 726 MAIN STREET, CREENPORT 1856 1 P. ,lY 28. "BRECKNOCK HALL', 1857 ;32. TOWNSEND HOUSE 29. "CUPOLA HOUSE", 1862 Remodeled 1860-70 The Architecture of Suffolk County. Heckscher Museum, Hurti-gton r'.Y19 April 25-May 30 1971 ass. 23 roof mark it as a full-fledged example of the The "Cupola House" in Orient, built in 1862, Greek Revival style, and the square belfry with is a basically plain little house graced by an ele- octagonal spire athwart the roof ridge identify gant octagonal cupola, wide Italianate eaves with its function. The Corinthian pilaster capitals be- paired brackets, and delicate "gingerbread" por- hind the pulpit are stock trim made of papier- ches the eaves of which repeat the main eaves mache and were sold by manufacturers of archi- design at smaller scale. There are numerous ex- tectural ornament. amples of this attractive type of porch through- St. James' Episcopal Church at St. James, out the County. built by the leading church architect Richard Up- The Ezra Prime House in Huntington, the john in 1853-54, is a board-and-batten building smaller of two similar houses, built in 1858 under in the Gothic Revival style.-' The tall square the direction of Orson Squire Fowler, the pro- tower, high roof, lancet windows, and marked genitor of the octagon craze which swept the effect of verticality of this simple wooden coun- nation in the 1850's, is constructed of a kind of try church are typical stylistic hallmarks. The concrete called by Fowler the "gravel wall mode tower contains the narthex, and the chancel roof of building" and has the octagonal shape he ad- is lower than that of the nave, clearly revealing vocated. Most octagonal houses, many of which the mediaeval kind of church plan favored by were built of brick or wood, had Italianate de- Episcopalians for liturgical reasons. The "Good tails." The Prime House is a rare example be- Shepherd" window in the nave is by Louis Com- cause of its construction. The present porch is a fort Tiffany."@ modem addition. The house at 726 Main Street in Greenport Another type of octagon, the Ice Mouse at (now part of the Townsend Manor Inn complex) the headquarters of the Society for the Preserva- was built in 1856 in the Italianate manner. The tion of Long Island Antiquities at Setauket, is not widely overhanging eaves supported on elabor- actually a Suffolk County building, having been ately scrolled brackets and the paired arched moved from Oyster Bay. Ice houses were stand- windows are typically Italianate, but the delight- and equipment on many farms until mechanical fully fanciful "gingerbread" porch adds an eclec- refrigeration made them obsolete. This one illus- tic accent that is purely sur' generis. trates the popularity of octagonal forms in the "Brecknock Hall," built at Greenport in 1 R57 mid-nineteenth century. for David Gelston Flovd a whaling ma nate fmy The Townsend House in Huntington appears probably the most splen- to date from the late eighteenth century. Circa did Italianate housp,of the 12erigd iLl the County. 1860-1876 this originally plain story-and-a-half I'hefine random ashlar walls are said to have cottage was charmingly modernized by the addi- been laid up by Scottish masons imported for the tion of a porch, dormer windows, and "stick purpose. Stone was almost never used as a build- work" gabled braces, all of vaguely Gothic fin- ing material in Suffolk County before the present spiration. The house was thus turned into what century. This great house stands majestically in was termed in the romantic era a "cottage orne." ample grounds, its long low roof-line broken only An ornamental well house and a picket fence by the front gable, chimneys, and cupola." complete an attractive ensemble, The Architecture of Suffolk Cou"ty. Hecksch��+�''r�ury e�s m rl y April 25-May 30 1971 18. It is ofterT-cRrorrea F'y R,Ad Wl t a true chronological sequence occurred. Actually, the Greek Revival flourished nationally circa 1820-1850 (as late as 1860 in the South), the early Gothic Revival circa 1830-1860, the Romanesque Revival circa 1845- 1860, the Italianate circa 1845-1860 (and later in the Middle West), and the Egyptian Revival Circa 1835-1850. A romantic fondness. for 1)icth1resquc effects fostered the irregular outlines and lively rooflines of the Gothic and towered Italianate modes. 19. Framing had been gradually lightened and modified since the seventeenth century but remained essentially the same in prin- ciple. 16 • .a • •Y 1� t pry jr r tr iUL�'f�tii�'r t{ i! 'f7lr ilfn ,�� lll,r fir�,r Y rely�ta q,ff l re rF't'+l`f 11/�a f71 I11 l[Irr r,lfilrrl lrll �fl l �,rrf Ji lf�J'i.��J `,�I rf !r yI`yJl.l+•l`� �k/r/1�.`.{1�I+If(f�f��1 ( Y ,.p*. rti�4�flrSSi�N>�'lUau�eff)iltll'.'fiiHlnirli.Irrti1�X��rR1��Jrne;l�ll�P/(�}Irflr�ni7l,�i;frl�t�fili:fl��f,�l�(/hI�fIEi7;�r07�`r Iflrl11111 Ilr r.r _,n. U' 9 Brecknock Brecknock Hall, one of the East End's truly distinctive mansions, stands on its J 145 acre estate in Greenport,overlooking the Sound.The romantic ambience of this Hall legendary building derives from the name and fame of its original owners, the Floyds, and from being a focus of East End history and industry from whaling days to the present. r. Greenport. 1851 a Sal Gaglio The builder of this stone manor house was David Gelston Floyd, grandson of William Floyd, member of the Contin- ental Congress and signer of the Declara- 1, �e Historic Houses of North Fork and Shelter Island , 70 Joy Bear, 1981 a Kk GR 23 lr� �1 1Y i y f came from the estate, and some was shipped from Connecticut, Stone cutters were brought from Scotland to cut, square and face the rock. The bearing walls are three feet thick. t The present tenants, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Morgan, like to call attention to r•,.w,.., the fact that each window has inside folding panelled shutters. The window and door framing, and the moulding, 1p were made by ship's carpenters and makers noted for their excel- 4 cabinet , - fence in the Greenport of that day. The main rooms all have fireplaces custom- made in Italy. Large, gold-framed mir- rocs and chandeliers, luxurious accents today, have been in the Floyd family .: 'Al since:Colonial days. ft11r Extensive grounds surround the house and front on Long Island Sound. A fresh water pond adds its charm to the property. tion of Independence.David Floyd was a d's shipping magnate who owned several its whaling vessels which sailed out of ng Greenport from 1845 through 1959, on Stonecutters were his voyages of up to three years. History was :he made on some of these voyages,and they brought from .he helped to make Greenport into the ast bustling seaport it became. Floyd was Scotland to cut :ng from Brecknockshire,Wales—hence the 1 f� name of his home. and face the rock ise Ground was broken for Brecknock Hall Of in 1851, and the building was completed m- six years later. Much of the stone used ra- Historic Houses of the North Shore and Shelter Island . Joy Bear , 1981 . 71 NEW YORK STATE HISTORIC TRUST STATEWIDE SURVEY OF HISTORIC SITES AND BUILDINGS 1. Name (Common and Historic) Floyd House Tr c kvi cc rc Location 2. Suffolk 3. Southold 4. �(1a z�y�pt,�— Jfir'rnc County Town Vi� or City 5. Address or Location 6. Type Victorian r , Subject or Theme Architectural 8. Date of Construction c• 1840 9 . Architect (If Known) 10. Builder (If known) ll. Original Owner 12. Original Use Residence 13. Present Owner Name Address 14. Present Use None 15. Physical Condition Good 16. Surveys L. I . Survey, (Office of Planning Co- ordination) 17. Future Action None 18. Surveyed by R. Wiggins, Cuddebackville, N. Y• , March 68, Date Surveyed Q5?-23 I History and Significance: This large estate has a Victorian barn also of stone. There are very few stone buildings in this part of Z. I . E. J. Smits of bounty Museum believes tha he estate is to kcame, , e ve- o shortly . 4 Sources of Information: L. I . Survey, (office of Planning Coordination) Photograph: pate Direction of View Heb. , 68. N. Map Location. GS Coordinates (Z! ■ 31h 1 Ghea'nf�Olt N _