European-style country estates are sprinkled all over western and Central Europe and there are a few dozen examples in North America but other than that they’re pretty much absent from the rest of the planet. But there is one other exception: Argentina. Argentina was colonized by Spain and the population largely traces its ancestry from Spain and Italy. When these settlers came to Argentina, they found vast, fertile plains (the Pampas) perfect for agriculture. Within a few decades, large agricultural estates, or estancias, had been established and their owners grew rich exporting beef and other agricultural products back to Europe. So no need to cry for Argentina. The country’s landowning elite adopted a society that would have been familiar to their distant relatives back in Europe, a luxurious townhouse in Buenos Aires and a classy country house on their estancia. Some estancia owners employed European architects and the result was several country houses that would look right at home back in Italy, France or England.
Estancia La Candelaria, Buenos Aires Province
Most of these country estates existed in relative obscurity but one or two developed some notoriety in the world outside Argentina. The Carcano family produced politicians, business leaders and ambassadors and they built their villa in a remote area of Cordoba Province. The Carcanos were also friends with the Kennedys as the patriarchs of both families served as ambassadors to the United Kingdom in the 1940s. John F. Kennedy visited the Carcano estate in 1941 and had a brief affair with Don Carcano’s daughter, Stella ‘Baby’ Carcano. Fling over, JFK moved on to a life in politics and a relationship with his beautiful wife, Jackie. And also Jackie’s press secretary, a White House intern, a couple of the secretaries, the girlfriend of a Chicago mobster, Marilyn Monroe, etc. etc. but I digress. Baby’s infatuation with JFK never dimmed and she kept up a regular correspondence with the future President until his death in 1963. Jackie, ever the good sport, visited the estate with her kids in 1966. Don Carcano’s other daughter, Ana, was married to Sir John Jacob ‘Jakie’ Astor VII, a member of the Astor family prominent in American and English social circles.
Jackie Kennedy and kids visiting the Carcano family estate, Cordoba Province. 1966Estancia Huetel, Buenos Aires Province Estancia La Fortuna, Buenos Aires ProvinceEstancia Santa Candida, Entre Rios Province
Castles are dotted all over western and Central Europe. Originally designed to defend the lord of the castle and his subjects from marauders, castles eventually were converted to strictly residential purposes and many of Europe’s castles still serve as private homes to this day. Many assorted dreamers and loonies in North America have attempted to build authentic looking castles but most attempts have failed to replicate the aesthetic and construction values of the castles of Europe.
Charlotte Bronson Hunnewell Martin, the first mistress of Hidden Valley Castle
One of the rare exceptions is a home known as Cornwall Castle located near Cornwall, Connecticut in the Litchfield Hills (AKA Hidden Valley Castle). The castle was designed by the architect, Edward Dean, and completed in 1925 for wealthy New York socialite Charlotte Bronson Hunnewell Martin and her husband, Dr. Walton Martin, a surgeon. The castle sits on 275 acres of woodland and streams and includes several outbuildings. Charlotte came from old Massachusetts railroading and banking money and loved the concept of European nobility so much that she and the doctor built the house in a storybook castle style. The doctor completed the illusion by occasionally riding around the estate on a white horse wearing a red cape. In addition to the castle, Charlotte also developed a set of row houses with a shared garden in Manhattan known as Turtle Bay Gardens. Residents of Turtle Bay have included Katherine Hepburn, composer Stephen Sondheim, famous twin Mary-Kate Olsen and the author of Charlotte’s Web, E.B. White, who allegedly named the spider after his landlord. Dr. Martin passed away in 1949 and Charlotte in 1961. Charlotte cut her only child out the will and the castle was subsequently sold.
The castle has had a series of lords since then including financier Saul Steinberg, a flashy New York financier from the 1980s era of junk bonds. Mr. Steinberg sold the castle in 1983 complaining about the bugs and insects that lived in the woods and fields around the castle and retreated back to his Manhattan co-op. Next up was former Macy’s executive, Joseph Cicio, who tried to renovate the castle, ran short of money and sold in 1988.
In 2001, Alphonse ‘Buddy’ Fletcher bought the castle. Mr. Fletcher was a New York hedge fund manager who burned through $212 million of his client’s money before declaring bankruptcy and being investigated by the SEC. Judges and officials involved in the investigations hailed from places like the Cayman Islands and Bermuda throwing a further whiff of suspicion and disrepute onto the affairs of the one-time lord of Cornwall Castle. In 2014, his lordship also fell behind on the mortgage payments and the castle was foreclosed upon in 2015.
In 2019 the castle and estate were purchased by a local Litchfield County builder and his wife for $1.6 million. They did extensive renovations and flipped it for $3.7 million in late 2022. The castle is still a private home and is not open to the public. A video describing the property can be viewed here. Hopefully, the new lord or lady of Cornwall Castle can provide the stability and commitment that it richly deserves as potentially the preeminent example of storybook and castle architecture in North America.
Anybody who has ever had a nickel to their name knows this house. Next to the White House, Monticello is undoubtedly the most famous house in North America. Thomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States, the second Governor of Virginia, President George Washington’s Secretary of State, author of the Declaration of Independence, founder of the University of Virginia, minister to the court of King Louis XVI and possibly one of the smartest people who ever lived. If you ever want to feel stupid, take a tour of the place that Jefferson called home for most of his life.
Jefferson’s reputation has taken a hit in recent years. Yes, he owned slaves. No, with a few exceptions, he did not free his slaves upon his death like Washington had (although Washington could have opted to not own slaves at all). He was particularly fond of one of his female slaves, Sally Hemmings. Sally was actually a half-sister of Jefferson’s wife, Martha (same father), and she was a house servant at Monticello. Martha passed away in 1782 and made Jefferson promise not to remarry. Subsequently, Sally accompanied Jefferson to Paris during his stint as Minister to France and eventually she became something like a surrogate wife to Jefferson. Over time, Sally bore six children by Jefferson starting when she was 16 years old. She and her four surviving children were all eventually freed from slavery.
Despite Jefferson’s association with slavery, the positive parts of his legacy live on. Jefferson, a polymath, was a world-class gardener, political scientist, gourmet, enlightenment philosopher and architect and spoke several languages. Although he denied the workers on his estate the basic legal and civil rights that he professed were inalienable and universal, his ideas were the foundation of future laws and decisions that eventually made this nation a more humane and equitable place for all people, not just white male property owners.
Monticello got its start when Jefferson inherited a 5,000 acre tobacco plantation outside Charlottesville from his father in 1757. Jefferson started working on plans for a plantation house right away but constantly tinkered with the design, built, tore down, and rebuilt and the house was not completed until 1809, nearly fifty years after starting. Even then, Jefferson, a serial remodeler, kept tweaking the house right up until his death. During Jefferson’s service in Europe in the 1780s, he became familiar with the latest architectural trends and the work of 16th century Italian architect, Andrea Palladio, who modernized greek and roman architectural forms for contemporary designs. Jefferson adapted these ideas to Monticello and the result is the handsome 11,000 square foot neo-classical home that we see today.
Jefferson retired to Monticello after leaving public office in 1809. By this time, Jefferson was hugely famous and had hundreds of friends that visited his mountain-top estate. The cost of all this entertaining added up and the proceeds from agricultural operations on the plantation were insufficient to balance the books. Financial problems were compounded by debts that Jefferson’s wife, Martha, inherited from her father. Jefferson attempted to increase profits from ventures like a nail factory but when he passed away in 1826 (50 years to the day of the declaration of independence), he was $18,000 in debt (about $600,000 in today’s money). His daughter and sole heir was forced to sell Monticello and 500 acres in 1831 to a local pharmacist at a fraction of its value and she also parceled off and sold much of the agricultural land.
Three years later, Monticello was flipped to a Navy admiral and real estate investor, Uriah Levy of New York. Mr. Levy was a big Jefferson admirer and hoped to preserve Jefferson’s legacy. Admiral Levy spent the next 26 years preserving and restoring Monticello and using it as a summer home. He also set out to purchase the surrounding agricultural parcels and reassemble the historic estate. Admiral Levy died in 1862 and willed Monticello to the federal government for use as an agricultural school. However, because the Civil War was raging at the time the government turned down the donation since Monticello was in Confederate Virginia. The Confederacy seized Monticello as “enemy property” and then sold it. After the Union victory, Admiral Levy’s executors recovered Monticello but it was then subject to probate lawsuits by 47 different claimants who all thought they should take ownership.
Finally, in 1879 Uriah’s nephew, Jefferson Monroe Levy of New York, settled the suits and bought out other Levy heirs. By this time, Monticello, vacant for nearly 20 years, was in a sorry state. The bottom floor of the future UNESCO World Heritage Site was being used by caretakers as a barn for cattle, grain was stored on the upper floors and the grounds were overgrown. Mr. Levy evicted the caretakers and the cattle and set to restoring Monticello to its former glory. Like his uncle, Jefferson Levy was also a real estate investor and also practiced law and served in the U.S. House of Representatives for three terms representing New York State. He lived at Monticello part of the year and welcomed the tourists who had started to visit the mansion in growing numbers in the latter part of the 19th century. He also purchased an additional 500 acres that had been part of the historic estate.
Monticello during its low point after the Civil War
In 1923, after nearly a century of Levy family ownership, Jefferson Levy sold Monticello to the newly formed Thomas Jefferson Foundation for a half million dollars and the Foundation continues to operate the estate to this day as a house museum showcasing Jefferson’s life and times. The Foundation has assiduously restored Monticello to how it would have looked during Jefferson’s life right down to the plants that would have grown on the grounds and gardens. In fact, the gardens at Monticello are world renown in horticulture circles for the rich diversity of plant material, much of which was introduced to the estate by Jefferson himself. The estate now comprises 2,500 acres and retains the form of an early 19th century country estate. Other than the vans carrying tourists to the home and their smart phones, Jefferson wouldn’t notice much difference if he was alive today.
Click here for further information about Monticello or here for a symphonic YouTube video about the estate.
Claremont Manor is an 1,100 acre estate situated on the right bank of the James River about 30 miles southeast of Richmond. A beautiful Georgian manor house sits on the property along with several outbuildings in the same style. Extensive gardens surround the main house which overlooks the James River. The origins of Claremont Manor date back to the 1620s when George Harrison, one of the Jamestown settlers, established a small tobacco plantation on the site. Mr. Harrison died in 1623, the victim of the first recorded duel in Virginia. The estate passed to the Clement family and then to the Allen family in 1681. The Allens built the manor house that exists today in 1750. At one time, the estate amounted to 12,000 acres and was a significant agricultural supplier to the confederacy during the Civil War. However, being on the losing side didn’t work out for the Allens. After the war, their Confederate currency worthless, they were forced to parcel out Claremont (much of it to migrating yankees). The last Allen threw in the towel in 1886 and moved to New York to practice law bringing 205 years of family ownership to an end..
In the ensuing decades after the war, Claremont Manor had many owners but three stand out. In 1940, Millicent Rogers bought the estate. Ms. Rogers was the granddaughter of Henry Rogers, a partner of John D. Rockefeller in the Standard Oil Trust. Millicent was a fashion icon and socialite during the early decades of the 20th century and later became an activist promoting Native American rights. Millicent had an active love life, marrying three times, once to a broke Austrian count, and included among her romantic partners actor Clark Gable, James Bond author Ian Fleming, and various princes from Russia, Italy and England. Mr. Gable was a frequent guest at Claremont Manor and contemplated buying a nearby plantation home. Millicent sold Claremont Manor in 1950 and retired to her home in Taos, New Mexico where she established a museum of Native American art that exists to this day.
Millicent Rogers, the chatelaine of Claremont 1940-1950
Between 1950 and 1964, Claremont was owned by James and Margaret Carter. James owned coal mining properties in Virginia and he and Margaret, although never making Claremont their primary residence, embarked on extensive renovations and additions to the property including adding to the main house and rebuilding various outbuildings. They also bought adjoining parcels more than doubling the size of the property. They sold the estate in 1964 and it served as a parochial school for the next 12 years until it was purchased by Lewis and Ann Kirby. The Kirbys added even more land to the estate bringing it up to its current 1,100 acres. Ann Kirby is a descendent of one of the owners of the Woolworth department store empire. Lewis was a graduate of Princeton University and served in General Patton’s Third Army in World War II. During his time in the service, he fought in the Battle of the Bulge and was present at the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp. After the war, he had a long career in the insurance industry. The Kirbys were passionate about Claremont and family traditions and heraldry. Ann passed away in 1996 and Lewis in 2015. Presumably, Claremont Manor is now controlled by their three children.
Interior of Claremont during the ownership of Millicent Rogers
This handsome Georgian revival house is known as Bonnie Doone and is located near Waterboro, South Carolina. The house is 9,700 square feet and is surrounded by gardens on a 131 acre estate. Originally, Bonnie Doone was part of a 1722 land grant from King George I and changed hands several times before it was bought by Dr. Theodore DeHon who built a plantation house. However, when the Union Army passed through South Carolina towards the end of the Civil War they had different ideas for the plantation and burned it down. As the Union forces were wrapping up the remains of the confederate army in 1865, they were particularly destructive in South Carolina since that State was the first to secede from the union in 1860. Between 1865 and 1911, the plantation (sans a plantation house) was mostly used for rice cultivation and passed through various owners.
In 1931, the plantation was purchased by a New York City stockbroker named Alfred Caspary. Mr. Caspary also bought some adjoining properties and formed an estate of 15,000 acres. One of these adjoining properties was known as Bonnie Doone and Mr. Caspary applied that name to the whole lot. He also commissioned the construction of the Georgian revival house that sits there today. This house was completed in 1932 on the same site as the former plantation house that was destroyed in the Civil War.
Besides being a successful stockbroker, Mr. Caspary was most famous as a philatelist or stamp collector. He amassed one of the greatest stamp collections of the 20th century and reportedly spent $50,000 per year on acquisitions. His purchases were so discerning that his nickname in the stamp collecting world was the “Connoisseur.”
When Mr. Caspary passed away in 1955, two years after his wife, Margaret, the estate sat for a few years before being purchased in 1965 by the Charleston Presbytery, a unit of the Presbyterian church, and was converted into a retreat center. In 1978, the estate was subdivided and 132 acres plus the house was bought by the Charleston Baptist Association and they also used the property as a retreat center for their church community. Much of the rest of the estate was sold to timber companies. In 2019, Bonnie Doone was bought for $2.5 million by Gene Slivka, a Georgia businessman, who has purchased a few other former plantations in the southern states. Presumably, Bonnie Doone is again being used as a private home. A video showing Bonnie Doone can be seen on Youtube here.
North American Country Estates 