A grand Gilded Age cottage on Cherry Island, Casa Blanca bears the imprint of Louis Marx. An American tobacco and sugar planter in Cuba, Marx maintained a residence in New York City along with his river cottage. With a sense of the theatrical, he installed an electric fountain on the front lawn, which had been exhibited at the World's Fair in Chicago. The event was noted in The New York Times, as well as by onlookers who enjoyed a slow parade along the river in their steam yachts. – The Summer Cottage, by Kathleen Quigley (Rizzoli)
James Scherzi
Casa Blanca “was purchased without any sight of the magnificent river views, as a cantankerous caretaker refused to raise the blinds of the wraparound porch. Today that expansive porch with sky blue ceiling is a focal point of island living, from entertaining to ship and sunset watching.” – The Summer Cottage, by Kathleen Quigley (Rizzoli)
James Scherzi
Nathan Straus, the founder of Macy’s, built Belora at the peak of his great fortunes in the late 1800s. He later gave away all of his money to philanthropic causes.
James Scherzi
This screened-in porch, an interior shot of a huge Colonial Revival cottage near Clayton, New York, looks out on the St. Lawrence River.
James Scherzi
This gigantic cottage sprawls 13,000 feet across Dashwood/Himes Island, and is fitted with all the accoutrements of any river house, as well as electricity and a telephone—notable in its day, writes Quigley.
James Scherzi
The billiard room. Reportedly, the magnificent table seen here was once owned by Diamond Jim Brady. — The Summer Cottage, by Kathleen Quigley
James Scherzi
The inside of Centennial, colorful as it may be, has nothing on the exterior of the charming old cottage, which is done up in primary colors (not pictured). The house has been modernized in recent years, but until 1998, the house had been in the same family for 118 years.
James Scherzi
The current owners continue to decorate with a patriotic theme.
James Scherzi
Dark Island looks like the kind of place where mysteries are made, or at least some good ghost stories are told. “The New York Times lauded it as a ‘Castle of Mysteries,’” writes Quigley. “It was inspired by a fictional castle—a royal hunting lodge from Sir Walter Scott’s novel Woodstock.”
James Scherzi
Dark Island’s gothically beautiful trophy and dining room.
James Scherzi
This private home on Comfort Island has been impeccably restored for a modern family.
James Scherzi
Quigley notes that the current owner, who bought the home at auction, was originally interested in the boathouse, which has also been fully restored and is in use.
James Scherzi
Pullman Island was once George Pullman’s, and on his island, he liked to entertain people, including one of his good pals, President Ulysses S. Grant.
James Scherzi
Fox Run is one of the newest homes featured in Summer Cottages, but its gardens and structures give a sense of old-world luxury.
James Scherzi
