Killenworth | |
---|---|
General information | |
Type | Mansion |
Architectural style | Tudor revival |
Town or city | Glen Cove, New York |
Country | United States |
Coordinates | 40°53′01″N73°38′05″W / 40.8836°N 73.6346°W |
Current tenants | Russia |
Opened | 1912 |
Design and construction | |
Other designers | Trowbridge and Ackerman |
Killenworth is a historic mansion in Glen Cove, New York constructed for George Dupont Pratt in 1912. It was purchased by the Soviet Union in 1946 to become the country retreat of the Soviet, and later Russian, delegation to the United Nations. In the 1980s the property was subject to allegations it was being used for espionage. There has been a long-standing conflict with the City of Glen Cove over its tax status.
Killenworth was constructed in 1912 as the home of George Dupont Pratt. The building was designed by Trowbridge and Ackerman in the Tudor Revival style with a seam-faced granite facade and had 39 rooms. It won first prize in that year's American Institute of Architects competition for best country house. [1] [2] The estate's gardens were designed by James Leal Greenleaf, [3] and were considered his greatest achievement. [4] The current building replaced an earlier mansion, also called Killenworth, which was constructed for Pratt around 1897 by William Tubby, with landscaping by the Olmsted Brothers. [5]
Killenworth is one of five existing mansions in Glen Cove built for the sons of oil magnate Charles Pratt. The others are "The Braes", now the Webb Institute of Naval Architecture; "Welwyn", now the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County on the grounds of the Welwyn Preserve; "Poplar Hill", now the Glengariff Healthcare Center; and "The Manor", now the Glen Cove Mansion Hotel and Conference Center. [6] Their property totaled nearly 5,000 acres.
In 1946, the estate was purchased by the Soviet Union and used as the country retreat of its delegation to the United Nations. [7] [8]
The presence of the Russians made the property the target of demonstrations, requiring the City of Glen Cove to provide additional police protection that was not reimbursed. [7] When Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev visited Killenworth in 1960, crowds reportedly threw tomatoes at his party's limousines. Other residents simply watched the procession in silence. [9] Cuban leader Fidel Castro also visited Killenworth in Glen Cove while in the United States. [10]
The tax-exempt status of the property led to conflict with the City of Glen Cove, which in 1970 attempted to foreclose on the property until the United States Department of State got a restraining order in federal court to stop the proceedings. [7] [11] In the 1980s the facility was subject to allegations that it was being used for espionage, with defector Arkady Shevchenko stating that its top floors were occupied by equipment for signals intelligence. [7] [12] In response to this and the tax dispute, in 1982 the city council voted to revoke the Russians' ability to get permits for city beach, golf, and tennis facilities. [7] The Soviet Union retaliated by denying use of a Moscow beach to members of the Embassy of the United States in Moscow. The permit revocation was reversed in 1984. [13]
In December 2016, the Obama administration announced that two Russian diplomatic facilities, one of which was on Long Island, would be closed as part of the retaliation for the Russian interference in the 2016 United States presidential election. It was initially reported that Killenworth might be the Long Island site, [14] but the designated facility turned out to be another mansion owned by the Russians called Norwich House [15] in nearby Upper Brookville, New York. [9] [16] Killenworth is still used by the Russian delegation.
Brookville is a village located within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 3,465 at the time of the 2010 census. It is considered part of the greater Glen Cove area, which is anchored by the City of Glen Cove.
Glen Cove is a city in Nassau County, New York, United States, on the North Shore of Long Island. At the 2020 United States Census, the city population was 28,365 as of the 2020 census.
Upper Brookville is a village located within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 1,698 at the 2010 census. It is considered part of the greater Glen Cove area, which is anchored by the City of Glen Cove.
Charles Pratt was an American businessman. Pratt was a pioneer of the U.S. petroleum industry, and he established his kerosene refinery Astral Oil Works in Brooklyn, New York. He then lived with his growing family in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. He recruited Henry H. Rogers into his business, forming Charles Pratt and Company in 1867. Seven years later, Pratt and Rogers agreed to join John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil.
Charles Pratt and Company was an oil company that was formed in 1867 by Charles Pratt and Henry H. Rogers in Brooklyn, New York. It became part of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil organization in 1874.
The North Shore of Long Island is the area along the northern coast of New York's Long Island bordering Long Island Sound. Known for its extreme wealth and lavish estates, the North Shore exploded into affluence at the turn of the 20th century, earning it the nickname the Gold Coast. Historically, this term refers to the affluent coastline neighborhoods of the towns of North Hempstead and Oyster Bay in Nassau County and Huntington in Suffolk County. Some definitions may also include the parts of Smithtown that face the Sound. The region is also largely coextensive with the Gold Coast region of Long Island, though this region excludes Smithtown, as the easternmost Gold Coast mansion is the Geissler Estate, located just west of Indian Hills Country Club in the Fort Salonga section of Huntington.
New York State Route 107 (NY 107) is a 17.07-mile (27.47 km) state highway in Nassau County, New York, in the United States. The route begins at an intersection with Merrick Road in Massapequa, serving several communities in the town of Oyster Bay before entering the city of Glen Cove and terminating at an intersection with Pulaski Street. From here, the right-of-way continues west for a short distance as Pratt Boulevard (CR 243) to Brewster Street and Glen Cove Avenue. Route 107 is the only State Highway on Long Island to enter a city other than New York City. The route connects with several major parkways and expressways and has a concurrency with NY 106 through Hicksville and Jericho Gardens.
Harold Irving Pratt was an American oil industrialist and philanthropist. A director of Standard Oil of New Jersey, he also served on the Council of Foreign Relations from 1923 to 1939.
John Teele Pratt was an American corporate attorney, philanthropist, music impresario, and financier.
Charles Millard Pratt was an American oil industrialist, educator, and philanthropist. As the eldest son of industrialist Charles Pratt, in 1875 he began working at Charles Pratt and Company, soon becoming president.
George Dupont Pratt was an American conservationist, philanthropist, Boy Scout sponsor, big-game hunter and collector of ancient antiquities.
Frederic Bayley Pratt was an American heir, the president of the board of trustees of Brooklyn's Pratt Institute for 44 years, from 1893 to 1937, and president of the United States Olympic Committee in 1910.
James Leal Greenleaf was an American landscape architect and civil engineer. Early in his career, he was a well-known landscape architect who designed the gardens and grounds of many large estates in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York. He was appointed to the United States Commission of Fine Arts in 1918, and served until 1927. He was the landscape architect for the Lincoln Memorial, and a consulting landscape architect for the Arlington Memorial Bridge.
Welwyn Preserve County Park is a 204-acre (0.83 km2) public nature reserve in Glen Cove, on the North Shore of Long Island in New York State.
The Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County (HMTC) is a Holocaust memorial, a museum and a tolerance center in Glen Cove, on the North Shore of Long Island in New York State. The museum and tolerance center is situated within the original Gold Coast Mansion "Welwyn", in what is now Welwyn Preserve County Park. The memorial also includes the adjoining garden, which was originally designed by the Olmsted Brothers, the influential American landscape architectural firm.
Pioneer Point is a house and surrounding 45-acre estate near Centreville, Maryland, on Maryland's Eastern Shore owned by the Government of Russia as a recreational place for its diplomatic staff in the United States. The estate lies on a peninsula formed by the confluence of the Corsica and Chester rivers.
The Elmcroft Estate, also called the Norwich House, is a historic mansion in Upper Brookville, New York, U.S. The 38-room property was built in 1918 by industrialist Frank C B Page, president of E W Bliss Machine Works in Brooklyn NY. From 1938 to 1952 it was the residence of Nathan L. Miller, who served as the Governor of New York from 1921 to 1922. In 1952, it was purchased by the Soviet Union as a retreat for their diplomats. Russian access to the site was commuted in the wake of the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections as part of a number of sanctions taken by the United States government against Russian diplomatic personnel.
Poplar Hill is a historic mansion in Glen Cove, New York. Constructed for Frederic B. Pratt in 1925, it has been in use as a healthcare center since 1947, and is currently known as the Glengariff Healthcare Center.
The Manor is a historic mansion in Glen Cove, New York. It was constructed in 1910 as the home of John Teele Pratt and Ruth Baker Pratt. It was designed by Charles A. Platt.
Glen Cove Creek is a stream in Glen Cove and the Town of Oyster Bay on Long Island in New York. It its upper reaches it is also known as Cedar Swamp Creek. The creek flows into Hempstead Harbor, an arm of Long Island Sound.