Coindre Hall (George McKesson Brown Mansion)

The French chateau-inspired Coindre Hall was built between 1906 and 1912. It was originally known as West Neck Farm and was built to be the summer home of pharmaceutical magnate George McKesson Brown and his wife, Pearl. The home is 80,000 square feet and consists of 40 rooms as well as a circular stairway. The property features numerous other buildings, including a gate house, a boat house, a garage with space for several automobiles, and even a water tower. The most distinctive features of the main house are its round towers, each topped with cone-shaped roofs. The home also featured an indoor swimming pool. As a measure of how modern the property was for the time, all of the outbuildings were connected to the main house by telephone. After several years of commuting from New York City, the Browns became full-time residents at the estate during World War I.

The estate originally consisted of 135 acres that stretched down to the water's edge at Huntington Harbor, giving the estate features one of the best views of any Gold Coast mansion. There is also a fresh water pond on the property which was used for ice in the summers to keep the home cool. In the early years of the estate, several silent movies were filmed on the grounds. The water tower, in particular, was used in several silent films. Cowboy star Tom Mix filmed on the property.

During the Great Depression, Brown faced financial problems as well as declining health. In 1939, Brown sold the main home to the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, a Roman Catholic order, and he and his wife began living in the gate house. They also sold some of the acreage, and the estate today consists of 34 acres of the original 135. The Brothers used the home as a boarding school for boys and named it Coindre Hall, after their founder, Father Andre Coindre.

The school continued operating in Coindre Hall until 1971, when it closed. Suffolk County purchased the property for $900,000 that year, but the building sat empty until 1980. There was talk about converting the building into a community arts center, but maintenance costs were too steep. In 1981, the property was leased to Eagle Hill School, which is based in Greenwich, Connecticut. The school was required to renovate all of the buildings and pay $10,000 a month in rent. The school neither renovated the buildings nor paid the rent and was eventually evicted. The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as well as the New York State Register of Historic Places. In 1988, it was dedicated to the Suffolk County Historic Trust. Today, Coindre Hall is used primarily as an event space and for photography shoots. The grounds feature numerous hiking trails.

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Blough, Kay . No. 85 Coindre Hall , Patch. May 10th 2011. Accessed April 23rd 2021. https://patch.com/new-york/huntington/no-85-coindre-hall.

The Chateau at Coindre Hall , Accessed April 23rd 2021. http://www.hufsd.edu/vault/assets/pdfs/community/local/2012/local_town_historical_coindre_hall.pdf.

Coindre Hall Mansion, Gold Coast Mansions . Accessed April 23rd 2021. https://www.goldcoastmansions.com/CoindreHall/CoindreHallMansion.html.