I’ll be up front; I’m a big architecture nerd. One of the things that really endeared the whole concept of the B&B to me is the concept that you can actually spend a night or two in a wide variety of places with architectural significance. You can relax on the porch, have a drink and play some games in the parlor. For a little while you can pretend to live a bit like the people the home was built for. At most famous buildings you aren’t even allowed to take photos, never mind climb into the beds.
Walking around Bear Run or Philip Johnsons’ Glass House are really moving in different ways, but we can all agree that these homes were meant to be lived in, not toured. It’s something of a well kept secret that B&Bs comprise a vast network of architecturally gorgeous homes which can be experienced as their architects intended them. In some cases you can spend a few days living in a landmarked historic home or a private residence that was never meant to be seen by the public. I’m always impressed by how much history and drama innkeepers are able to discover about their homes.
Some of my favorite buildings in Manhattan and Brooklyn are products of Stanford White, and the architecture firm of McKim, Mead and White. If you’re familiar with E.L. Doctorow’s novel Ragtime, or the movie adaptation of the same name, you’ll recognize White as one of the principal characters. The Washington Square Arch in Manhattan, is considered one of the greatest triumphal arches in the world, along with the Arc De Triumphe. The epic Doric Column of the Prison Ship Martyrs’ Monument in Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn is one of the most inspiring memorials to fallen soldiers anywhere in the world. Here at BnBFinder, we’re lucky enough to be right up the block from what is arguably McKim, Mead and White’s Beaux-Arts masterpiece the Manhattan Municipal Building, crowned by the statue of Civic Fame. I’ve gone out of my way to visit nearly every McKim, Mead and White building located anywhere near NYC, so I was delighted to discover that The Stanton House Inn in Greenwich, CT was remodeled by Stanford White in 1899. When the property was purchased by Greenwich notables Edward and Susan Brush, White was selected to renovate the home into a private showplace. Since 1985, the Pearson’s have run the property as The Stanton House Inn, after restoring the home to a perfect state.
It’s a pretty rare opportunity to see the inside of a Stanford White Home. Although he was a prodigious architect, his life was cut short when he was murdered by Harry K. Thaw, a jealous husband, on the roof of one of his own buildings, the old Madison Square Roof Garden. The legal brouhaha that followed was dubbed the ‘Trial of the Century’ by the New York papers, and White’s murderer was acquitted by reason of insanity. Many of White’s private residences have been torn down, or have become landmarked showplaces, where visitors are welcome but overnight guests aren’t allowed. B&Bs provide access to architectural gems you would otherwise never get to see and experience as their designers intended them to be .
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