"Fairseat"/"The Archways" (Plandome Manor, New York)

 residence, LIGC - Long Island Gold Coast, Colonial Revival (architecture), 1940s construction

The English/American playwright and author Frances Hodgson Burnett built her estate here in 1908, upon returning from England at age 58, and lived here until her death, using it mainly as a summer home. Her novel 'The Secret Garden', inspired by the gardens at Great Maytham Hall in England where she had previously lived, was partially written while visiting Buile Hill Park in Manchester, and then completed at Fairseat and published in 1910-11. Her son Vivian and his family lived nearby, as well as her sister Edith and her second husband Frank T. Jordan (her first husband Pleasant Fahnestock had died), and her nephews Ernest and Archie and their families. After she passed in 1924, her nephew, manufacturer Archer P. Fahnestock, moved into the main house and renamed it "The Archways". While the Fahnestocks were on a cruise, the home burned in late 1935 (original home was closer to the road). The only remnants are the stucco carriage house and the gardens.

The estate was sold in 1940 to Leroy Grumman {industrialist} engineer and co-founder of Grumman Aerospace. Grumman served as founder, president and chairman of Grumman Aircraft Corporation and was also an inventor of retractable landing gear for planes. The Grumman family partially funded the development of the Cradle of Aviation Museum at Mitchel Field in Garden City. He rebuilt the mansion to a design by Paul A. Franklin of Port Washington, and lived there until his passing in 1982. It was further-expanded in 2002 under the ownership of Eugene Petracca.

archive.org/details/sim_long-island-forum_1981-07_44_7/...
www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=28670672&fcfT...
www.upi.com/Archives/1982/10/05/Leroy-R-Grumman-one-of-...
www.historicnewengland.org/explore/collections-access/g...
bklyn.newspapers.com/image/52611831/?terms=%22flower%2B...
bklyn.newspapers.com/image/83392162/?terms=manhasset%2B...
bklyn.newspapers.com/image/54455871/?terms=%22Plandome%...
bklyn.newspapers.com/image/52705804/?terms=%22Plandome%...
nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn95071155/1947-05-30/ed...
archive.org/details/waitingforparty00annt/page/218/mode...
archive.org/details/longislandhistor03bail/page/30/mode...