Glen Cove Mansion Hotel and Conference Center Announces Centennial Celebration (United States)
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Glen Cove Mansion Hotel and Conference Center Announces Centennial Celebration (United States)
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Category: North America & West Indies / Carribean islands - United States
This is a press release selected by our editorial committee and published online for free on 2010-07-01
Public Open House & Garden Party Saturday, July 17th
Glen Cove Mansion, the historic hotel located on storied Dosoris Lane in Glen Cove, New York, and formerly the country house estate of John Teele and Ruth Baker Pratt, will celebrate its Centennial next month. The two-day Centennial celebration will begin with a private Edwardian-inspired black tie dinner on Friday, July 16th, which will include grandsons of John & Ruth Pratt and the Honorable Ralph V. Suozzi, Mayor of Glen Cove, who worked at the Mansion as a boy.
On Saturday, July 17th, in the tradition of the Edwardian Era, when the estate opened, Glen Cove Mansion will host a public Open House Garden Party from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Included at the Open House and Garden Party will be guided Mansion and Garden tours, fashions from America’s Gilded Age and England’s Edwardian Era, soccer and volleyball on the expansive Mansion lawns, games from the period including croquet and horseshoes, snacks, refreshments & beverages, and other assorted games and amusements including an old-fashioned tug-of-war finale!
Glen Cove Mansion opened its doors to the Pratt family and their glittering society friends and business associates a century ago at the height of the Edwardian Era ~ a period of extravagance never seen again. The Georgian-inspired country home of John Pratt and Ruth Pratt was one of five Pratt estates in Glen Cove. Mr. Pratt and his four brothers each had country homes constructed next to each other on land purchased by their father and the family’s patriarch, Charles Pratt. Charles Pratt was a pioneer of the U.S. petroleum industry, forming Charles Pratt and Company in 1867, which became part of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil in 1874. One of his most enduring contributions to New York was Mr. Pratt’s founding and endowing the renowned Pratt Institute.
Although John Teele Pratt, who was an attorney and executive for Standard Oil, passed away in 1927, Ruth Baker Pratt continued to live in the Mansion until her passing in 1965. Mrs. Pratt made New York history following her husband’s death by being elected New York’s first Republican Congresswoman to the US Congress. She represented New York City's "Silk Stocking" district. Following Mrs. Pratt’s passing the property was converted to a luxury hotel and conference center, which it remains to the present day.
Originally known as “The Manor,” the circa 1910, 55-acre estate of John Teele and Ruth Baker Pratt, which remains entirely intact, was considered by England’s respected Country Life Magazine (still in print today) as one of the "best twelve country houses in America." The Mansion was designed by the noted architect, landscape designer and artist Charles Adams Platt (1861-1933) who also designed the Smithsonian Institution's Freer Gallery of Art (1918) in Washington, D.C. The Pratt’s Georgian mansion was set in pastoral surroundings, and was an integral part of the many glamorous estates, which once comprised Long Island's legendary North Shore Gold Coast during America’s Gilded Age.
Guests to the Mansion enjoy the same arrival experience of the Pratt family. Upon traversing the quarter mile drive to the Mansion from the front gates, guests enter the Mansion through a stately two-story stone columned portico entrance where visitors are welcomed by a uniformed greeter. Once inside the reception hall, visitors enjoy an elegant, baronial double staircase, imported paneling, antique crystal lighting fixtures, carved marble fireplace mantles, and original lunettes in the barrel arched cross hall -- which imparts a feeling of being enveloped in a wonderful bygone era. Jay Gatsby would feel at home!
The Gilded Age, The Edwardian Era, The Belle Époque
Around the turn-of-the-last-century, scores of wealthy Americans seeking a retreat from the urban industrial life built grand country estates for themselves. This period was known in America as The Gilded Age, in England as the Edwardian Era and in France as the Belle Époque or the beautiful and golden age. These magnificent mansions were surrounded by acres of landscaped grounds. In America, the estates were often modeled after English country houses. Many of these properties were the work of America's foremost architects and landscape designers. The North Shore of Long Island was a popular location for the country estates of wealthy New Yorkers, which became an important part of Long Island's architectural history.
Lavish social and business entertaining occurred in these large country houses, which featured dinners up to 22 courses, fine German wines and French champagne. Many steamed to their estates via luxury yachts from Manhattan, one of the most famous of which was J.P. Morgan’s Corsair, which could be often seen in Long Island Sound near Glen Cove where he owned a large home on a private island.
These estates are an essential part of Long Island's architectural and cultural heritage, as they created the legendary "North Shore Gold Coast." Only a few remain today as post-war inflation, the advent of property and income taxes, the high expense of maintenance and large staffs, and ultimately the need for higher density use of prime land brought about the destruction of large estates during the past decades.
Through the years, movie and television producers discovered Long Island’s historic Gold Coast as an ideal setting for feature films, including pictures shot at Glen Cove Mansion. Pictures such as Audrey Hepburn’s Sabrina, Where's Poppa, and Kirk Douglas’s It’s a Lovely Way to Die among others were filmed in part or completely at the Mansion with great success. In 2010, an episode of the popular USA Network show, White Color, was filmed at the Mansion.
The area surrounding Glen Cove Mansion includes four other former Pratt estates. John Teele Pratt's brothers were George Pratt, who developed "Killenworth," a gothic Tudor mansion across Dosoris Lane from Glen Cove Mansion and today the Russian Consulate's residence. Frederic Pratt's stone mansion, "Poplar Hill," is now a home for the aged. Herbert Pratt's waterfront home, "The Braes," is now the Webb Institute of Navel Architecture and has been featured in major motion pictures as well, including Batman Forever with Val Kilmer, and Harold Pratt's Neo-Georgian mansion is Nassau County's "Welwyn" Preserve.
Glen Cove Mansion Today
Since 1967, when Glen Cove Mansion became one of the very first luxury conference center hotels in the United States, additions and conservation under skilled supervision have succeeded in creating one of the premier properties in the country. Since 1985, the Four Diamond Glen Cove Mansion Hotel and Conference Center has been recognized nationally as one of the "Ten Best Conference Centers in the United States" by the readers of Corporate Meetings & Incentives magazine, and has also been the recipient of Corporate Incentive & Travel magazine's "Award of Excellence." In addition, Glen Cove Mansion Hotel and Conference Center has been honored with the "Pinnacle Award" by Successful Meetings magazine, the "Planners Choice Award" by Meetings Media magazines, and the "Gold Key" and "Gold Platter" Awards for excellence in hospitality and food & beverage by Meetings & Conventions magazine.
The Gilded Age elegance of the Pratt Family remains at Glen Cove Mansion, which has proven to be magnificent setting for countless weddings and social affairs as well.
John Teele Pratt believed there should be "no inharmonious note to throw the whole out of tune." His Mansion and gardens formed an aesthetically well-balanced country estate. Fortunately, the property is preserved with much of the original charm and integrity that uniquely bridges the gap between great architecture, nature and time. The entire complex greets all of its visitors with a warm feeling that says, "Welcome to Glen Cove Mansion."
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