Poplar Hill (Glen Cove, New York)

Poplar Hill is a historic mansion in Glen Cove, New York. Constructed for Frederic B. Pratt in 1925, it has been in use as a healthcare center since 1947, and is currently known as the Glengariff Healthcare Center.

Poplar Hill in the 1940s
Landscaping in the 1940s
Library in the 1940s

History

Construction

It was constructed in 1925 as the home of Frederic B. Pratt. The home was designed by Charles A. Platt in the French Renaissance style. It had 21 rooms and was on a 35-acre estate.[1][2] Pratt had the interior designed for comfort rather than to impress because he desired to avoid public attention.[3] The current mansion replaced an earlier mansion designed around 1898. Martha Brookes Brown Hutcheson was the landscape architect for the original estate, which was retained when the building was replaced.[4]

Poplar Hill is one of five existing mansions in Glen Cove built for the sons of oil magnate Charles Pratt. The others are "The Braes", now the Webb Institute of Naval Architecture; "Welwyn", now the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County on the grounds of the Welwyn Preserve; "Killenworth", now the country retreat of the Russian delegation to the United Nations; and "The Manor", now the Glen Cove Mansion Hotel and Conference Center.[1]

Healthcare center

Frederic Pratt died in 1945. In 1947, the estate was purchased by the Sister Kenny Foundation for use as a hospital for non-infectious poliomyelitis cases.[5] It later became the Glengariff Healthcare Center. The facility changed owners in 1971 and a new nursing home was constructed,[6] and the mansion was abandoned.[7][8]

The building was renovated as part of a Designers' Showcase event in 1974, after which the building returned to use as a facility for ambulatory patients.[7] During the 1974 showcase, the owner asked the organizers not to use the third floor, but upon entering anyway they found surveillance equipment trained on the neighboring Killenworth estate, which was the country retreat of the Soviet delegation to the United Nations.[9]

As of 2000, Glengariff was a 262-bed subacute care center.[6] The mansion was renovated into a rehabilitation center in 2011.[10]

References
  1. "The History of The Pratt Family Home on Poplar Hill in Long Island". Glengariff Healthcare Center. Retrieved 2018-11-25.
  2. "Poplar Hill" (PDF). Previews Incorporated. Retrieved 2018-11-25.
  3. Tedeschi, Tony (2010-11-22). "Former Pratt Estate: The Glengariff Healthcare Center". Glen Cove Patch. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
  4. Zaitzevsky, Cynthia (2009). Long Island Landscapes and the Women who Designed Them. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 65. ISBN 9780393731248.
  5. "Pratt Estate Sold for Polio Hospital; Sister Kenny Foundation Buys $500,000 Property on Sound for Non-Infectious Cases". The New York Times. 1947-07-23. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
  6. Strugatch, Warren (2000-06-25). "Filling a Niche in the Island's Health Care Industry". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
  7. Shaman, Diana (1988-05-29). "Restoring the Master Builder's Mansion". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
  8. L., Zack (2012-04-23). "Poplar Hill in 1972". Old Long Island. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
  9. Shaman, Diana (2000-04-16). "Turning White Elephants Into Designer Showplaces". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
  10. Mallia, Joseph (2011-10-31). "Pratt mansion conversion in Glen Cove wins design award". Newsday. Retrieved 2018-11-27.

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