Plashbourne Estate

Introduction

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The Plashbourne Estate is an early 20th century Tudor Revival-inspired residence located in Yonkers, New York. It is an excellent example of this architectural style in Yonkers. This estate also represents the development of planned suburban communities throughout Westchester County as a result of the population growth during the late 19th century. Easier access to railroads allowed upper class New York City residents to experience the suburban lifestyle with an easy commute to the city.

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Backstory and Context

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This Tudor Revival-style residence was designed by the architectural firm of Carrere & Hastings and constructed in 1911 for artist Violet Oakley. The two-and-a-half story building is composed of a stone exterior with a slate roof and a wood-frame interior, with its most prominent feature being Oakley’s large art studio on the first floor. The design of the house is unique for its style because it does not contain any Renaissance-inspired architectural details. This is the result of Carrere & Hastings’ loose interpretation of the Tudor Revival style of architecture they implemented, as they were renowned for their frequent use of Beaux-Arts. This explains why the estate was considered to have set a precedent with its design.

The original homeowner, Violet Oakley, was an artist whose career spanned the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. She was educated in New York City and Paris, then moved to Philadelphia, which is where she spent the majority of her career. At one point in time, Oakley was arguably the most distinguished female illustrator in America, as she had been commissioned to complete murals in the Senate and Capitol buildings, which made her a pioneer for female artists in this male dominated field.

Oakley became associated with the Westchester area through a family friend named William Lawrence, who established the Yonkers neighborhood of Lawrence Park, where her residence would later be built. However, her tenure at this estate only lasted about a year, as she rarely spent time at the property after the summer of 1912 and officially moved back to Philadelphia the next year. In 1915, Anna Lawrence Bisland, the daughter of William Lawrence, moved into the vacated house and renamed it "Plashbourne," and it remained her residence until her death in 1950. Anna Bisland took in a foster child, Lawrence Felinghetti, after his father died and his mother was committed to an asylum. Felinghetti later became a leader of the beat poetry movement. The former Columbia University President Dr. Grayson Kirk resided at the estate from 1973 until 1997.

Sources

Hewitt, Mark Alan. The Architect and the American Country House 1890-1940. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990.
National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program Records. “New York SP Plashbourne Estate,” August 2, 2007. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75323173.
Phillips, Steven J. Old House Dictionary: An Illustrated Guide to American Domestic Architecture 1600-1940. Lakewood, Colorado: The Preservation Press (National Trust for Historic Preservation), 1994.