"Harbor Hill" (East Hills, New York)

 residence, LIGC - Long Island Gold Coast, historical layer / disappeared object, Beaux-Arts (architecture)

Former estate lands of "Harbor Hill" which was a spectacular Long Island Gold Coast estate of 688 acres given to Clarence Hungerford Mackay and his wife by his parents in 1898. The mansion built between 1899-1902 was designed by McKim, Mead, and White. Clarence Mackay (1874-1938) was the son of Comstock Lode magnate John William Mackay, and inherited much of an estimated $500 million silver mine and telegraph fortune upon his father's death in 1902.

A large estate staff was led by Charles Hechler who faithfully served as estate superintendent for 31 years from 1907 to 1938. The high water mark at Harbor Hill came in the 1920s with a grand party in 1924 for the Prince of Wales, who became King Edward VIII and subsequently, the Duke of Windsor. In 1927, an equally grand party for aviator Charles Lindbergh upon his return from Europe after his famous solo flight.

Decline began with the 1929 stock market crash. In 1930, Katherine Mackay died from cancer, in 1932 art and tapestries were sold, estate staff reduced, the mansion was closed in 1933 and Mackay and second wife moved into Charles Hechler's house near Glen Cove Road. In 1935 one of his telegraph companies went bankrupt. The family moved back into the mansion, but had to leave by 1938. Clarence Mackay left Harbor Hill estate for the last time on November 8, 1938. He died four days later at age 64 at his Manhattan residence.

The estate was left to his son, John W. Mackay. However, Clarence's vastly depleted estate valued at 2-3 million dollars was left to his second wife, Anna Case. As a result, his son was left without the means to maintain the Harbor Hill property or pay the recurring taxes. In 1940, John leased 50 acres to the US Army Air Corps for what later became known as the Roslyn Air Force Station.

The house and other estate buildings gradually fell into disrepair due to neglect and vandals. The mansion itself was demolished with dynamite in 1947. John sold the rest of the estate property to a developer who built a community of individual homes on Harbor Hill in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Today, this community is known as Country Estates.

www.oldlongisland.com/search/label/Harbor%20Hill
archive.org/details/americanestatesg00ferruoft/page/n54...
digital-libraries.artic.edu/digital/collection/mqc/id/3...
digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/e90631b0-5102-0134-9f...
www.jstor.org/action/doBasicSearch?Query=Clarence+H.+Ma...
www.jstor.org/stable/10.7312
www.jstor.org/stable/1180596?seq=1
archive.org/details/longislandtreesf00hickrich/page/n3/...
archive.org/details/housegarden131908newy/page/82/mode/...