Whitehall
built for Henry Flagler by
Carrère & Hastings 1902

 The above picture is not a trompe-l'oeil of the Esopus main house, but a restored front facade of a home commissioned by Henry Morrison Flagler, a co-founder with Oliver H Payne of Standard Oil.  Flagler had moved away from direct involvement with Standard Oil and turned his attention to development of Florida.  He built the railroad the length of the state, and gave Carrère and Hastings their first big break as independent architects with several projects in northern Florida. Whitehall, a 55-room  winter retreat was a wedding present for his second wife, Mary Lily Kenan Flagler.

After the Flaglers' deaths, Mary Lily's niece inherited the estate and sold it to investors who opened it as the Whitehall Hotel in 1925.  By 1959, the hotel was in financial distress and the entire complex was in danger of being razed.  Flagler's granddaughter, Jean Flagler Matthews, learned of the estate's fate, purchased the property, and formed a non profit corporation, the Henry Morrison Flagler Morrison, Inc.  The following year, Whitehall was opened to the public as the Flagler Museum.

 When I was a student at Esopus in 1942-1945, we were told that the Esopus main building was built as an exact reproduction of one Payne has seen on one of his Mediterranean tours on the Aphrodite.  A corollary was that Payne insisted on using European limestone, even though Carrère and Hastings told him it would not last more than  two decades.  But viewing the Flagler Museum gives rise to second thoughts.  Of course, architects who designed over 600 estates had to repeat some elements.  The symmetry of the front facade, the arched windows and entry doors, the placement of the great hall (see picture below) in a transverse position to the front entrance, moving the grand staircase behind the great hall, building the rooms around an open courtyard, using red tile for roofs  — all these elements are repeated in Esopus.  The common elements in the Frick house and New York Public Library are not so strikingly similar as are those of of the Flagler and Payne houses. 

However, it is doubtful if Payne would countenance a mere recycling of an eight year old concept.  But his discontinuing of Hastings after the first three houses (and perhaps the English Village) may have indicated some displeasure.  Iit may also have reflected Payne's admiration for Julian Burroughs, who seemed to work closely with Payne and/or his delegates.  All of this is mere conjecture on my part.

The great hall pictured below is done in a completely different color scheme and decor as that of the Esopus main house.  But some elements are similar.  The windows face East, there are separate columned spaces at either end.  We have no idea of how Payne decorated his great hall.