Chanticlare (often spelled Chanteclair and also known as the Ricks Estate) was a large, Gold Coast-era estate located in the Village of Flower Hill, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States.
Chanticlare | |
---|---|
Alternative names | Chanticlair; Ricks Estate |
General information | |
Status | Demolished |
Type | Home |
Architectural style | English Tudor |
Location | Stonytown Road, Flower Hill, New York |
Construction started | 1920s |
Demolished | 1960s |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Frederick A. Godley |
Other information | |
Number of rooms | 42 |
Chanticlare was constructed in the 1920s for attorney and Union Carbide executive Jesse J. Ricks.[1][2][3][4][5] The mansion, designed in the English Tudor-style by Frederick A. Godley, featured 42 rooms – including a music room/ballroom.[1][3][4][6][7]
In the 1960s, following the deaths of Jesse Ricks and his wife, their children would sell off the remaining land.[1][3][4][8] Originally, the developers of the Chanticlare at Flower Hill subdivision, Edwin and Walter Ketay, wanted to save the mansion, and made attempts to do so.[1][3][4][9] A number of the homes built on as part of the development were designed by architect Stanley H. Klein.[1][9]
One of the plans for its preservation was for C.W. Post University (now LIU Post) to purchase it and use the space as a music school, an accounting school, and/or administrative offices, amongst other proposed uses by the school.[1][3][4][10] However, in 1967, C.W. Post ultimately chose not to buy the property.[3][4][10][11]
The Ketays soon after tried getting the Nassau County Cultural Society to occupy the home – although the plan was largely opposed by residents.[3][4][12]
With all preservation efforts failing, preserving the building proved to be too costly, and the estate was ultimately demolished in the late 1960s and replaced with an additional 4 homes as part of an amended plat map and plan for the Chanticlare at Flower Hill subdivision made by Edwin and Walter Ketay.[3][4][10][11]
In 1968, the pipe organ formerly located in Chanticlare's music room was donated by John Ricks and Jane Ricks-King, the children of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Ricks, to Hofstra University in honor of their late parents.[3][4][13]
The three-bank Aeolian electro-pneumatic pipe organ, valued at $115,000 in 1968, was installed in the Adams Playhouse at Hofstra, along with a memorial plaque.[14] In order to house the components of the instrument, Hofstra had to add two chambers onto the Adams Playhouse, totaling 430 square feet (40 m2).[14]
The donation of the organ meant that students at Hofstra studying the organ could practice on-campus as opposed to having to travel off-campus to the nearby Episcopal Cathedral of the Incarnation.[13][14]
The estate's guest house, located off Stonytown Road, still stands.[3][4][5] Like the main mansion, it was also designed by Godley.[3][4][5]