Vanderbilt Cup Races

Great photo! Based on its architectural construction clues, looks like my guess of the owner’s friends was right on! Willie K. Vanderbilt certainly knew Fred Wagner! Looks like Fred was influenced, before his Sunnybrook home’s building plans went into construction in 1912, by Willie K’s architectural design choices for Petit Trianon, 1911 and Eagles Nest (stucco facade, etc.), 1910-!!

From Mystery Friday Foto #11 Solved; The Petit Trianon Construction in Lake Ronkonkoma

Hello, the other gentleman with the hands in the pockets is santos dumont , I am his biographer, and apparently he could have bought one of William K Mercedes. Could you share more images of this instant?

From Mystery Foto #52 Solved: Willie K. at the Ormond Hotel during the 1904 Ormond-Daytona Beach Races

The structure is the short-lived Motor Parkway Inn, built on the shores of Lake Ronkonkoma. Photo taken late 1910/early 1911 when the Parkway’s eastern terminus was to be at Riverhead.  It was to serve as a halfway stop where Parkway motorists could get gas and oil, have flats repaired and minor repairs made while enjoying a leisurely meal. Photographer is facing north/east photo’ing the front facade of the Inn.

From Mystery Friday Foto #11 Solved; The Petit Trianon Construction in Lake Ronkonkoma

That is the Petit Trianon at the end of the Motor Parkway. Lake Ronkonkoma is behind it. It was a luxury hotel. The photographer is in front of the building, looking northeast. Photo must have been taken around 1910-11. The hotel opened in 1911. It burned down in 1958.

From Mystery Friday Foto #11 Solved; The Petit Trianon Construction in Lake Ronkonkoma

Bob, the plates were purchased by members of the Wheatley Hills Golf Club and Links Golf Club. Both clubs had private entrances off the Motor Parkway. Enjoy, Howard Kroplick

From Updated: My Long Island Motor Parkway License Plate Collection (11/7/2025)

A great destination after driving 45 miles through the Long Island countryside!

From Mystery Friday Foto #11 Solved; The Petit Trianon Construction in Lake Ronkonkoma

Further comments of my photos that I posted Mar.14. The first is the 1910 Mitchell model S in the same setup as the first photo. The Colonel (as he prefered to be called, not Teddy like in Teddy Bear) The car being 1910 a year after he had served as president, a privite citizen. At Sagamore Hill, There’s former tool shed that became a garage for the goverment car during his time as president then as a priviite citizen. They always a had chauffeur, his wife Edith did not want TR to drive! So when TR and chauffuer were driven out of area, stop, and he asked the chauffuer to switch places so he can drive.

From Mystery Friday Foto #10 Solved; Theodore Roosevelt goes for an automobile ride

I also have a 1928 Long Island Motor Parkway green and yellow golf plate

From Updated: My Long Island Motor Parkway License Plate Collection (11/7/2025)

I don’t know where or what this structure is, but it’s pretty clear they didn’t have OSHA to worry about as I look at the scaffolding and roof brackets.  And if this is in New York and it’s the twentieth century, they had forgotten about the NY scaffold liability law, too.

From Mystery Friday Foto #11 Solved; The Petit Trianon Construction in Lake Ronkonkoma

As always, thank you Howard for another interesting article.  But can you explain what a golf club plate is?  I just did a quick little google and didn’t find anything…
Thanks, Bob Allen

From Updated: My Long Island Motor Parkway License Plate Collection (11/7/2025)

- Petit Trianon, a restaurant and inn, rest stop for travelers along the LIMP

- I’m guessing the photographer is facing the western facade of the building

- Built in 1911, so likely early 1911 or late 1910

- Not sure; may have been repurposed into a catering hall/second iteration of a restaurant before becoming a retirement home in the 80s or 90s (Park Lake Home). It was demolished by the early 2000s.

From Mystery Friday Foto #11 Solved; The Petit Trianon Construction in Lake Ronkonkoma

That is so exciting! Plan to go. Thank you for letting us know!

From VanderbiltCupRaces.com cited in the "Nation of Speed" exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Per the State of Connecticut List of Motor Vehicles, 1913 edition, the Connecticut License plate C9379 was registered to Chas. E. Zink, M.D. of Durham, CT.

From Mystery Friday Foto #10 Solved; Theodore Roosevelt goes for an automobile ride

Superb historical photos and background!

From Mystery Friday Foto #10 Solved; Theodore Roosevelt goes for an automobile ride

Though the answer is elusive, here’s a guess the construction is close to post 1912 and the owner knew Fred Wagner, well-known starter of Vanderbilt Cup Races. Gustav Stickley worked with Fred and his wife Annie to design their home at Sunnybrook Farm in Smithtown. Featuring similar porches flanking the center block, the design favored arched window openings, and long low dormers. The Wagners’ home was seen by hundreds of auto industry guests attending Fred’s annual picnics for a decade to come. See picture here of the Wagner family and builder (to right), while work crew pauses to wave, Building Age, September 1912. Courtesy, Cornell University Fine Arts Library and see Vanderbilt Cup Races at https://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com/blog/article/the_residence_of_the_starter_of_five_vanderbilt_cup_races_rediscovered_in_s

From Mystery Friday Foto #11 Solved; The Petit Trianon Construction in Lake Ronkonkoma

The structure and purpose
This would be the Motor Parkway Inn, renamed The Petit Trianon Inn at
  the eastern terminus in Lake Ronkonkoma
Location and orientation of the photographer
Looking NE from the turn around loop in front.
Approximate date
The building started construction in early 1911.
The structure’s fate
Sold by the LIMP in 1920 and destroyed in a fire in 1958.
The staff annex was converted into a nursing home till it was
taken down to develop the area in about 2006.

Of course, all this information is from the extraordinary website
Vanderbilt Cup Races:

https://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com/blog/article/friday_january_22_2010_then_and_now_petit_trianon

From Mystery Friday Foto #11 Solved; The Petit Trianon Construction in Lake Ronkonkoma

I haven’t the faintest idea. As a guess? One of Willie K’s properties. I say “properties” because this large beautiful home, otherwise known as a “cottage” to the Robber Barons, might have been a guest home on one of Willie’s properties; Lake Success, Northport, etc. Of note is that “drywall” wasn’t available back then, or even when my parents bought a newly constructed house in Fresh Meadows in ‘52; the horizontal wood braces were installed to hold plaster to make walls.

From Mystery Friday Foto #11 Solved; The Petit Trianon Construction in Lake Ronkonkoma

Petit Trianon (Motor Parkway Inn) in Lake Ronkonkoma.
Looking east
Served as the eastern terminus of the Motor Parkway - restaurant gathering place for motorists ending their trip and those wanting a nice meal by the lake.
As the Inn opened in June of 1911 and trees have leaves I would imagine the date of the photo to be April or May. 
The structure burned down in January, 1958.  Articles from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, the Times Union (wonder if the injured construction worker is in the mystery photo) and The New York Times.

From Mystery Friday Foto #11 Solved; The Petit Trianon Construction in Lake Ronkonkoma

That’s the Motor Parkway Inn under construction. Renamed later as The Petite Trianon, it served as an inn / hotel and party destination. As it’s still under construction, the date should be 1911. It was at the eastern end of the LIMP at Lake Ronkonkoma and we’re looking east. It burned down in 1958.

From Mystery Friday Foto #11 Solved; The Petit Trianon Construction in Lake Ronkonkoma

This was fascinating! Loved seeing all the variations. I hope there are still a few more out there waiting to be discovered.

From Updated: My Long Island Motor Parkway License Plate Collection (11/7/2025)