Polo stable gets state aid for $2M redo

After 89 years, Marshall Field III's polo stable at Caumsett State Park in Lloyd Harbor is showing its age in rotting windows and crumbling brick mortar.

But a $2-million exterior restoration will begin in the spring -- aided by a $400,000 grant to the nonprofit Caumsett Foundation announced earlier this month by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

"Structurally this building is in very, very good condition," said August Muff, senior architect in the regional office of the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. The foundation and interior do not need any work.

But the building has never had a major exterior overhaul. And the location near Long Island Sound has left the wood doors and windows rotting and peeling, and the steel lintels over the windows rusted and expanding to displace bricks and mortar.

When Field, heir to the Chicago department store of the same name, decided to build a Gold Coast estate, he didn't scrimp. He hired highly regarded architect John Russell Pope, who would go on to design the Jefferson Memorial and the National Archives and Records Administration building in Washington.

Along with a mansion and other outbuildings, Pope designed a stately brick polo stable topped by a cupola with a clock and with a brick herringbone floor outside the 16 oak horse stalls. The stable, built in 1922, was designed to last.

But by 2009, shingles were falling off the slate roof, so the state had it rebuilt. The almost $1 million project was paid for by the 16-year-old Caumsett Foundation, which received grants for about half the work and raised the rest.

The remaining exterior work to be undertaken with the help of the state grant includes replacing all of the doors and windows with historically accurate wood replicas; replacing the rusted lintels with stainless steel copies; repointing the brick with a historic lime putty mortar that matches the original color; and removing any asbestos.

The residential wings on either end of the barn also will be restored, with a porch on the eastern wing that was closed in over the years restored to its original open configuration.

The missing arrow-style weather vane will be restored and reinstalled or replaced with a replica.

Volunteers also are trying to repair the clock in the cupola to working order.

In addition to the latest $400,000 grant, the foundation has already received two other state grants totaling $550,000 for the restoration. The foundation has begun to raise the $1,000,050 to match them, board member Lynn Gundersen said.

The state parks office will seek bids for the work in February. Construction should be completed next winter, regional engineer Scott Fish said.

CAUMSETT ESTATE

In 1921, Chicago department store heir Marshall Field III purchased 1,750 acres and named the Lloyd Harbor property for its Matinecock Indian name, which means "place by a sharp rock."

The estate was planned by Architect John Russell Pope, who later designed the Jefferson Memorial and the National Archives and Records Administration building.

Construction began in 1922. The estate features a main house, polo stable, the summer and winter cottages, farm buildings and many other structures.

The property was acquired by New York State in 1961, and became Caumsett State Historic Park. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The polo stable was used in the original movie "Arthur" starring Dudley Moore and in the HBO cable television production of "Mildred Pierce" starring Kate Winslet.