Lavish Gold Coast Estate Turned State Park - Planting Fields Arboretum

Apr 22

Coe Hall is the 65-room centerpiece of the 409-acre Planting Fields Historic State Park located in Oyster Bay, New York. The estate was originally landscaped by Frederick Law Olmsted, featuring greenhouses, rolling lawns, formal gardens, woodland paths and outstanding plant collections.

The story began in 1913 with William Robertson Coe and his second wife, Mai Rogers Coe, heiress and daughter of Standard Oil partner Henry Huttleston Rogers. Mr. Coe made his fortune as chairman of a large marine insurance company. Between 1918 and 1921, the home they commissioned was built to resemble a 400-year-old English manor, along with two greenhouses and a large hay barn with stables. Mai died in 1924 and Mr. Coe married Caroline Graham Slaughter Coe in 1926. Mr. Coe died in 1955 and Caroline lived at the Manor House, built on the estate, until her death in 1960.

Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park is run by the Planting Fields Foundation, a not-for-profit, public educational foundation, founded by William R. Coe in 1952. The mission is to preserve The Coe’s legacy for future generations to enjoy an integrated composition of the built and natural world. Between 1955 and 1964, the estate was used as a temporary campus for the State University of New York while the permanent campus in Stony Brook was being developed. The mansion alone was used at first, but as the college grew, more of the other estate buildings began to be used.

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The decorative sundial decorates the exterior of the West Portico.

The striking architecture of the West Portico

Pollination

Planting Fields is one of only a few surviving estates on Long Island with its original acreage intact, as well as its buildings.

This is the entrance to Camellia Greenhouse, created by Lowell & Sargent in 1917.

Olmsted Brothers revised and extended Camellia Greenhouse between 1918 and 1922.

The Italian Blue Pool Garden was created between 1914 and 1918 by A. R. Sargent.

Elsie de Wolfe did the interior design of the Italian Garden Tea House. Very little of Elsie de Wolfe’s design work survives anywhere in the U.S. or in Europe, which makes the Tea House extremely rare and historically important.

Elsie de Wolfe hired Everett Shinn to paint murals for several private commisions in and around New York City, but none remain intact.

Here is another view of the Italian Blue Garden.

The pink children’s playhouse, surrounded by gardens, are the things fairytales are made of.

The Dahlia Garden offers several hundred varieties of show-quality dahlias.

An assortment of colors in the Olmsted inspired landscape

The Main Greenhouse was also a joint effort of both Olmsted Brothers and Lowell & Sargent.

Flowering beds inside the Main Greenhouse

Changing seasons, changing colors

The estate has charming outbuildings, like the stables where horse racing enthusiast, Mr. Coe, kept his horses.

Here is a shot of the walking trail leading to the children’s playhouse.

The entrance facade of Coe Hall, a 65-room Tudor Revival mansion designed by Walker & Gillette

This is a garden bed just outside the mansion’s service court.

The path leading to the Green Garden

The Green Garden featuring a circular pool

The Green Garden statuary detail

The mansion front entrance exterior architectural detail

The chandelier in the main entrance foyer

The Reception Room is where Mrs. Coe would have met guests or met with staff to review the day’s schedules. This Persian-inspired room was furnished and decorated with French art and furniture.

The chandelier in the reception room

The reception room

Looking down the hall to the dining room

This is the Gallery; it was the family living room.

Here is the whimsical Buffalo Mural in the Breakfast Room. Robert Winthrop Chanler, a New York City-based artist, was commissioned to create a mural that would pay homage to Wyoming and W. R. Coe’s love for the west. The mural has thickly layered plaster to make portions stand out and metallic powders for a magical effect from the flickering candles. It is one of the only surviving Robert Chanler murals which can be seen in a public space.

The dining room with the original table, was designed by the house architects, Walker & Gillette.

Some of the stained glass windows came from the Hever Castle, the birthplace of Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn.

The Coe’s selected numerous antiques

Mr. Coe’s stately office / den has a secret bar.

The tall windows flood the Great Hall with sunlight.

The house includes impressive collections of furnishings, paintings, and stained glass.

The main staircase

Ukrainian-born American artist created numerous iron work details throughout the house including fire screens, railings and light switches.

Radio and bedtime reading on the nightstand

In 1921, Mrs. Coe’s bedroom was designed by Elsie de Wolfe. Robert Winthrop Chanler created the original wall and ceiling mural. Mr. Coe’s third wife, Caroline, stripped the murals and had panelling installed. The current mural is a reproduction.

Mai Coe’s bedroom

Mai’s sunlit bedroom with eighteenth century French designs

Mai Coe’s bedroom

Stained glass detail

Coe Hall was one of the last of the great estates created on Long Island’s Gold Coast.

Garden fountain

The former Hay Barn Complex, now houses the visitors center and a cafe.

One of the buildings near the Main Greenhouse

The wrought-iron gates, built in Sussex, England in 1712, for Carshalton Park, was imported by Coe in 1921.

Mr. Coe’s third wife, Caroline Graham Slaughter Coe, built Manor House when Mr. Coe died in 1955. She lived here until her death in 1960.

The entrance gate to the Italian Blue Garden

Stained glass window detail

The house is furnished with many antiques.

The service stairway

Mai Coe’s restored dressing room originally designed by Elsie de Wolfe with Everett Shinn painted panels repurposed by the Foundation.

What you should know:

There are walking trails.
Restrooms are available.
One price includes parking and self guided garden tours; house tours are an additional charge. Check the website for more information.
You could spend a couple of hours to an entire day.
There are guided house tours.
The garden tours are self guided.
You can use the New York State Park Empire Pass for park entrance.
Tree-climbing, ball playing, bicycle riding, scooters or skateboards are NOT allowed.
Large picnics, walking in flower beds, and pets are NOT allowed.

Location:

1395 Planting Fields Road, Upper Brookville, New York. 11771

For more information: Planting Fields Arboretum