KDHamptons Design: Revisiting The Orchard, Stanford White’s Final Masterpiece

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The Orchard, Front Exterior

 

 

On Thursday, August 14th, The Southampton Historical Museum will host its second annual Samuel L. Parrish Lecture featuring THE ORCHARD: Stanford White’s Final Masterpiece by Gary Lawrance, Architect. The Orchard is considered one of Stanford White’s greatest summer homes and today is recognized as one of the best examples of adaptive reuse of a historic house and property as, The Whitefield Condominiums, named so for its architect, Stanford White.

 

 

The Orchard, Main Staircase

 

 

In 1915 Country Life Magazine called The Orchard one of twelve significant country houses in America. Now called Whitefield, Architect Stanford White created what is today considered “one of the finest and most prominent estates in the Hamptons.” Author and Architect Gary Lawrance will give a lecture in the Music Room at Whitefield followed by a reception in the garden of the 16 acre estate.

 

 

The Orchard, Sunroom

 

 

The Orchard, Music Room

 

 

The Orchard, now the Whitefield Condominiums was built for Financier and photographer, James L. Breese in 1895. Mr. Breese was very good friends with the famed “Gilded Age” architect, Stanford White. Stanford White often stayed at the Orchard and he and Mr. Breese would plan and implement many improvements to the house such as adding on more wings and elaborate gardens.

 

 

Whitefield, as it stands today

 

 

Architect, Gary Lawrance and co-author of the bestselling book, “Houses of the Hamptons 1880-1930”, will discuss the evolution of, The Orchard from an early Greek-revival farm house to one of the largest and finest summer estates in Southampton. He will give a brief background about the James L. Breese family and the lifestyle they enjoyed there. Also with many rarely seen archival photographs, he will illustrate how the house and gardens grew over the years. The Orchard was later owned by Charles Merrill, co- founder of the financial firm, Merrill Lynch and the talk will include some of the lavish life that they also enjoyed and what improvements they made to the property.

 

 

The Orchard, Garden Fountain

 

 

The Orchard, Garden Allie

 

 

The Orchard, Garden Sculpture

 

 

Detail Recap: THURSDAY, AUGUST 14th, 5:00 – 7:00 PM

2nd Annual Samuel L. Parrish Lecture

Music Room, Whitefield, 155 Hill Street
$125 per person, RSVP required by Tuesday, August 12, no tickets sold at the door.

[Featured photos: “Country Life in America” 1915: Collection of the Southampton Historical Museum]