Then & Now: Petit Trianon
As described yesterday, in 1911 the Long Island Motor Parkway Inc. built the Petit Trianon Inn as an attraction to the eastern terminus in Lake Ronkonkoma. Today, the Petit Trianon receives the "Then and Now" treatment with images from 1911 to 2008.
This is the front view of the inn after construction was completed. Originally called the Motor Parkway Inn, the name was changed to the more elegant sounding Petit Trianon, after one of the smaller buildings on the grounds of Versailles near Paris.
This postcard was sold at the inn and showed the view from the lake. Visitors had access to Lake Ronkonkoma for bathing, boating and fishing.
This postcard showed the "reading room" lounge in the south wing of the inn.
This 1925 survey for the nearby Lake Ronkonkoma Heights development showed the exact location of the Petit Trianon and nearby staff Annex building.
Sold off by the Long Island Motor Parkway in the late 1920s, the building survived until 1958, when it was destroyed by a fire. Surrounded by a metal fence, the remnants of the inn are seen here as they appeared in 1960.
The staff Annex building was also designed by John Russell Pope with many of the elements of Petit Trianon. As seen here in 2003, the building had become a nursing home. Around 2006, the building was sold to a land developer and was taken down.
This is the site of the Petit Trianon as it appears "Now". Only the fence around the ruins remains.
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Index: Long Island Motor Parkway- Suffolk County
Comments
Hi.
The postcard view of the reading room is, I believe the north wing, not the south wing. The door at the upper right hane side of the photo opens on to the piazza(?), the door on the lower left hand side of the photo led past a service bar, a dumbwaiter which was connected to a lower level kitchen then on to the main ballroom. The food was carried up on the dumbwaiter.