Lillian Sefton Dodge Estate facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Lillian Sefton Dodge Estate
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The Formal Gardens
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 Location in New York
Location in the United States
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| Location | Frost Mill Rd., Mill Neck, New York |
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| Area | 86 acres (35 ha) |
| Built | 1922-1925 |
| Architect | Clinton & Russell |
| Architectural style | Tudor Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 79001595 |
| Added to NRHP | July 22, 1979 |
The Lillian Sefton Dodge Estate is a very old and grand house located in Mill Neck, New York. It is also known as Sefton Manor or the Mill Neck Manor Lutheran School for the Deaf. This historic estate has 34 rooms and covers a huge area of 60,000 square feet!
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A Grand Home's Story
This amazing house was designed in 1922. The famous architectural firm Clinton and Russell created it for Lillian Sefton Dodge. She was a very successful businesswoman in the cosmetics industry. The design of the house was inspired by a beautiful old building in England called St Catherine's Court.
How It Was Built
The manor house is built in the Tudor Revival style. This means it looks like old English Tudor homes. It has two and a half stories and a full basement. The house is built with a strong steel frame. Its outside walls are made of brown Westchester granite. It also has light brown limestone details. The roof is made of gray slate tiles. You can see granite dormer windows and chimneys sticking out from the roof.
Inside the Manor
One special part of the house is its four large stained glass windows. These windows show scenes from five plays by William Shakespeare. A famous artist named Charles Jay Connick from Boston made them in 1927. Each window cost about $10,000 back then! Below one of these windows is a very old church pew from the 15th century. Many of the stone fireplaces inside the house came from Europe.
Almost all the metalwork inside, like door handles and other decorations, was made by the famous iron worker Samuel Yellin. Other cool things inside include:
- Entry doors that are 400 years old.
- A 9-foot tall safe just for silverware.
- Ceilings with beautiful patterns sculpted by hand.
- Walls covered in oak wood panels.
- Fancy chandeliers from the Renaissance period.
Beautiful Gardens and More
The property also has a farm complex built in the Tudor style. It has half-timbered walls, which means parts of the wooden frame show on the outside. There is also a garage and a greenhouse. The formal garden was designed by Charles Wellford Leavitt.
The gardens have special boxwood plants shaped like a sundial. You can also find urns and stone temples scattered around. The gardens used to have many colorful flowers. These included tulips, azaleas, mountain laurels, magnolias, and Japanese cherry trees. Large, multi-tiered fountains were brought from Venice. However, the water to these fountains was turned off after the property became a school.
The Lillian Sefton Dodge Estate was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. This means it is a very important historical site.
From Estate to School
A New Purpose
In 1949, a group called Lutheran Friends of the Deaf bought "Sefton Manor." They wanted to use it as a school for deaf children. The school was officially a branch of the Lutheran School for the Deaf in Detroit.
On September 23, 1951, a special ceremony was held. Over 3,000 people came to celebrate the new school. Melvine Luebke became the headmaster. He had worked at another school for the deaf before. The school officially opened on September 25, 1951. It welcomed 50 deaf children, some from as far away as Maryland. By 1956, Mill Neck Manor was fully approved by New York State.
The Manor Today
The manor house was used for classes until 2002. That year, a new building was built just for classrooms. Since 2016, the manor house has been carefully restored. The goal is to make it look as much like its original design as possible.
Today, the home is open for tours about once a month. You can also visit by making a special reservation. The Mill Neck Foundation also holds special events in the Manor. In the 2015–16 school year, more than 106 students attended the Mill Neck school.
The living room of the manor is now used as the chapel for the Mill Neck School for the Deaf. This room still has its original wall lights and fancy plaster ceiling. It also has the original fireplace and wood carvings. It became the school's chapel in 1958. Beautiful stained glass windows surround the chapel.
About Lillian Sefton Dodge
Lillian Sefton Dodge was the president of Harriet Hubbard Ayer, Inc. This was a company that made cosmetics. She started leading the company after her first husband, Vincent B. Thomas, passed away in 1918. She sold the company in 1947 for over $5 million.
Lillian Dodge passed away on July 20, 1960, in New York City. She was married twice. Her first husband, Vincent B. Thomas, died in 1918. Her second husband, Robert L. Dodge, was an artist who worked with stained glass. He passed away on July 16, 1940, at 68 years old.
See also
In Spanish: Casa de Lillian Sefton Dodge para niños
