National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior

Analysis of Historical Significance and Integrity by Resource Type
Another similarity is Rosecliff's access from the central living room to an exterior terrace
on either of its longitudinal sides; Hyde Park's central Elliptical Hall also accesses a terrace, but
only on its west longitudinal side. In both cases, the terrace at the rear elevation has a
magnificent view: of the Atlantic Ocean from the east side of Rosecliff and of the Hudson River
from the west side of Hyde Park. 1327
While never repeated in the same exact vocabulary, McKim, Mead & White seemed to
take many of the same architectural or decorative elements of its mature phase and express them
in slightly different ways. Much of this should be attributed to the professional maturation of
two separate individuals, that is McKim and White. "This later stage of McKim, Mead &
White's eclecticism can be called 'scientific' - in contrast to the earlier, more synthetic
eclecticism - because of its greater fidelity to original forms and details." 1328 This is evident in
their Beaux-Arts work. Each interpretation would best suit the commission-at-hand while
creating an entirely individual and often more individually sophisticated design. This
manipulation and re-interpretation of the classical elements represents the three partners' and
the firm's ability to grow intellectually through the expression of their craft.
This academic classicism dominated the firm's work throughout the very end of the
nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries. In spite of the depression,
commissions for their institutional buildings, private clubs, and urban residences were plentiful.
No less than twenty-five institutional buildings were under construction and completed
between 1892 and 1907; at least two private clubs were completed in 1894 and 1900, one of
which was altered in 1902 and 1915; and more than fifteen urban residences were completed in
Washington, D.C., New York City, Boston, and Buffalo between 1896 and 1912, with all but one
finished by 1906. The majority of these structures used the Beaux-Arts vocabulary, with an
occasional Federal Revival-style townhouse included in the repertoire.
Considering this tremendous work load, with most designs using variations of the same
vocabulary, it is not surprising that the firm took a respite from the more academic work to
design country houses in the Colonial Revival style when the opportunity arose. During the last
decade that the original partners still worked together, two of these houses were completed at
the same time (1900) and bear marked similarities on the main façade. The first is the A.A. Pope
residence, constructed in Farmington, Connecticut; 1329 the second is The Orchard, of
Southampton, Long Island, the home of James L. Breese, which was altered and added onto in
1900 and 1906. 1330 The former's main elevation is white-painted clapboard, while the latter's
façade is sided with even rows of white-painted shingles, which simulate wide-exposure
clapboarding. At least of the latter, "McKim is generally credited with the exterior [design],
White with the interior." 1331 Both structures mimic Mount Vernon, George Washington's
home, with their wide two-story porches. 1332 The 1906 addition to The Orchard was the music
room, "one of [Stanford] White's last completed designs." 1333
1327
White, 198-209.
1328
MacKay, 278.
1329
McKim, Mead, & White, plate 146.
1330
White, 238-49.
1331
White, 238.
1332
Roth, 211.
1333
White, 247.
236