(OId Westbury Gardens - South Terrace)A long allée bordered by towering linden trees stretches out from the gates to the entrance of Westbury House, framing its Charles II façade. Tall, imposing iron gates announce that you’re now entering a secluded and spectacular estate known as Old Westbury Gardens located in the very exclusive village of Old Westbury in Long Island, New York. Old Westbury Gardens is so picturesque it’s been chosen for the settings of several movies, including Love Story and Age of Innocence.
(Old Westbury Gardens - Front Gate)Westbury House became the home of newlyweds John "Jay" Phipps (son to a partner of Carnegie Steel) and Margarita Grace (daughter of the founder of the Grace Shipping Lines) in 1903. The Phipps family joined the Old Westbury neighborhood whose prominent inhabitants included the Vanderbilts, the Whitneys, and the Winthrops ... to name just a few.
(Old Westbury House - Front)Phipps wanted his homesick British wife to feel at home in Long Island, so he turned to British designer George Crawley to design his home. The result was the Charles II style, an 18th century architecture mix of classical and baroque motifs. Crawley wanted to create a gracious country manor that looked like it had been standing there for centuries. A symmetrical brick façade of classical windows, corniced roof, and center Palladian window surround a baroque entry porch of clustered columns, producing a home that was at once elegant and impressive without being imposing.
