Then & Now: The Annex to the Petit Trianon
When the Petit Trianon Inn was built in 1911 at the eastern terminus of the Motor Parkway in Lake Ronkonkoma, William K. Vanderbilt Jr. also commissioned an annex building for the staff. This is the Annex: Then & Now.
Enjoy,
Howard Kroplick
Then: 1925 Blueprint
The relation of the annex to the Petit Trianon Inn, the lake and the Motor Parkway was shown in this 1925 blueprint. Like the Petit Trianon, the annex was designed by John Russell Pope and retained many of the features of the inn.
Then: 1950 Aerial
The two aerials can be seen in this aerial
Then: 1930s
By 1931, the Annex was converted into an inn by proprietor Max Greis
This Parkway Inn ad noted: "Excellent German Cooking, Airy Rooms, Also Good Refreshments".
The basement featured a German tavern called the Rathskeller.
Then:1981
Decades later, the Annex was converted into the Park Lake Rest Home. Images of the building were captured in 1981 by Ron Ridolph in one of his many journeys on the Motor Parkway
Now: 2006
In 2006, the building was taken down without any resistance and was purchased by a real estate developer.
Comments
That is a shame! People do not appreciate the beauty in architecture.
I first saw that building in 1958 during a family outing to the lake. My grandfather mentioned that it was associated with the Vanderbilt Parkway. I had no idea then what that meant except for the fact that a piece of that same parkway was just a few feet from my grandad’s self-built home in Bethpage. It is ever so important to preserve these incredibly important parts of our heritage.
The Lake Ronkonkoma Historical Society surely should have been aware of this travesty.
hi
Even more tragic is the fact that nothing was ever built on that spot after it was taken down. An important piece of Motor Parkway/Lake Ronkonkoma history destroyed for no good reason!
Sure anything of historical significance on Long island let’s just raze it & replace it with…......nothing. ‘cuz it’s old y’know and we gotta get rid of it.
This was my grandparents house property. Park lake rest home. There is now 4 houses on the property.