Harbor Hill Estate & Gate House - Roslyn

Among the largest estates on Long Island was the Renaissance –style mansion known as Harbor Hill designed in 1899 by Stanford White and built in 1900 to 1902 for Clarence H. Mackay and his wife Katherine. The 576-acre estate was located atop the highest point in the area overlooking the village of Roslyn and Hempstead Harbor.

This country home estate was divided into formal gardens and terraces surrounding the main house and a 70-acre farm. With Clarence Mackay’s death in 1938, the estate was left to his son John Mackay III. Due to vandalism during the World War II, the mansion was demolished in 1947. The property was sold in the late 1950s and became the Country Estates housing development.

The Mackay Estate Gate Lodge was built in 1900-1902 as a component of the estate. The still-standing gate lodge was designed as a miniature version of the main house. Both the main house and the gate lodge were designed in French Baroque style with stone walls and steep roof slopes. 

The Mackay Estate Gate Lodge is one of only three buildings still standing from the Mackay Harbor Hill Estate (Dairyman’s Cottage and the John Mackay III Stonehouse). On April 12, 1991, the Mackay Estate Gate Lodge was listed on the New York State and National Register of Historic Places.

From approximately 1970 to 2008, the Mackay Estate Gate Lodge was used as the Country Estates Swim Club. The Mackay Estate Gate Lodge and surrounding 3.2-acre property was sold to G.A.D. Development in 2009. With the assistance of then town historian Howard Kroplick, G.A.D Development considered transferring the gate lodge property either to the Town of North Hempstead or the Village of East Hills. On September 3, 2017, the Village of East Hills decided to acquire the Mackay Estate Gate Lodge. 

When a subdivision was approved by Nassau County, the deed to the gate lodge was transferred to the Village of East Hills in December 2021. With the guidance of the Roslyn Landmark Society, the restoration of the Mackay Estate Gate Lodge began on January 25, 2022.

Sources: 

“Harbor Hill Estate.” Roslyn Landmark Society, 1 Jan. 1967, www.roslynlandmarks.org/profiles/harbor-hill-estate. 

 “Harbor Hill Gate Lodge.” Roslyn Landmark Society, 1 Jan. 1969, www.roslynlandmarks.org/profiles/harbor-hill-gate-house. 

Carrington House - Fire island

The Carrington House is located on a tract of land between Fire island Pines and Cherry Grove. It is one of the earliest homes built on Fire Island, originally constructed in 1912 by Frederick Marquat, and purchased in 1927 by theater director Frank Carrington, co-founder of the Paper Mill playhouse. The house was built in 1909 by Frederick Marquat, a US Army Corporal that served with Carrington’s father, Major Frank Carrington.

The two families used this retreat until 1927, at which point Frank bought the property and turned the space into a nexus for the cultural development of mid-century arts. At the time, the cottage was a rectangular, three bay bungalow. Carrington made two wood-frame additions around 1940. Frank Carrington expanded the property with the “Lone Hill Cottage” built in 1948. Carrington was active in the growing arts community of Cherry Grove. He rented the property to his friends in the community, including Truman Capote. In 1957, Capote developed a novella there that would become Breakfast at Tiffany's.

At one point Frank Carrington was offered $1.5M for the property by a real estate developer but was more interested in preserving the site, so sold it to the National Park Service in 1969 for approximately $300,000 and continued living there until 1975. National Park Service Ranger Bob Freda lived there for the next twenty years. The Carrington House is probably the oldest surviving building in Cherry Grove.

 In 2016, the property was placed on the National Registry of Historic Places.

 

Sources:

“Carrington House.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 June 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrington_House

 

Hildebrandt, Bill. “The History of Fire Island’s Carrington House.” Fire Island Pines Historical Society, Fire Island Pines Historical Society, 11 Jan. 2026, www.pineshistory.org/the-archives/the-history-of-fire-islands-carrington-house