I am Alice

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Early in his book “Photographing the World Around You“, author Freeman Patterson tells the story of Alice, a participant in one of his workshops. It’s a bit too long to re-tell here, but later on he provides this summary:

Remember Alice, whom you met earlier; she had so little confidence in her personal creativity that she automatically assumed every picture she made was, at best, competent. In her view, non-creative people canmake only non-creative photographs and, since she regarded herself as having no imagination, she felt incapable of improving her seeing and her photographs very much.

I am Alice…but not as much as I used to be.

Sunday Morning Walk Home from The Patio – The Speyer Wall

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This brick wall runs from what was once the entrance to Philips Laboratories, along Scarborough Road where it continues along Holbrook Road to a second entrance. Most Briarcliff Residents are familiar with the wall, but few know why it’s there.

Inside the wall there used to be a mansion owned by wealthy financier, James Speyer. The mansion stood in a 130 acres estate called Waldheim, which featured sprawling farmlands, a nine-hole golf course, gardens, and a lake. It was landscaped by the Olmstead Brothers, founded by John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. the nephew (and adopted son) and son of Frederick Law Olmstead the famous architect of New York’s Central Park.

On the nearest pillar in the first picture above (view looking East) you can make out the word “Wald” and on the nearest pillar in the second picture, below (view looking West) you can make out the word “Heim”.

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After Speyer’s death in 1941 the estate was sold in 1946 to be subdivided into residential lots. Although the mansion is long gone, the wall and a few other ruins still remain to remind us that it once existed.

Taken with a Sony RX100 III

Sunday Morning Walk Home from The Patio – Gatehouse to the V. Everit Macy Estate

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Almost home. Valentine Everit Macy (March 23, 1871 – March 21, 1930) was an American industrialist and philanthropist, involved in local government. In the 1910s and 1920s, he served in Westchester County, New York, as commissioner of the Department of Charities and Corrections, the Commissioner of Public Welfare, and as Commissioner of Parks. The building in the picture was once the gatehouse to his estate, “Chilmark”. For more on V. Everit Macy see: V. Everit Macy on the Briarcliff Manor-Scarborough Historical Society website.

Taken with a Sony RX100 III

Sunday Morning Walk Home from The Patio – All Saints Episcopal Church

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All Saints’ Episcopal Church is a historic Episcopal church in Briarcliff Manor, New York. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. John David Ogilby, whose summer estate and family home in Ireland were the namesakes of Briarcliff Manor, founded the church in 1854. The church was built on Ogilby’s summer estate in Briarcliff Manor.

Richard Upjohn designed the church building, which was constructed from 1848 to 1854 and expanded in 1911. The church has several memorial windows, including one by John LaFarge and a rose window by Frederick Wilson of Tiffany Studio.

It’s the second oldest church in the Village and the oldest functioning church since St. Mary’s closed in the 2015. For more pictures see: All Saints Day Service at All Saints Church, Briarcliff Manor.

Taken with a Sony RX100 III

Sunday Morning Walk Home from The Patio – Walter Law’s Mansion

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Walter W. Law had begun acquiring property in Briarcliff Manor even before he left W.J. Sloane. In 1891 he purchased this house from the Wolsey family and relocated to Briarcliff Manor where he could be closer to his farming (and other) businesses. Over the years the house went through several incarnations and renovations. The most recent owners: The Begoni Family recently sold the house. Last week we were invited by the person managing the sale to look around and even to take anything from what remained (it all had to be thrown out by the end of the day). Above: Entrance to the Mansion on Scarborough Road.

I took some pictures, but it was all rather sad: the empty rooms, piles of “stuff” on the patio between the house and the fountain – all waiting to be tossed into the garbage skip. Instead of showing those more recent pictures I’m showing these taken back in July 2021.

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Taken with a Sony RX100 III