A. Conger Goodyear House, Old Westbury N.Y. Edward Durell Stone Photographer: Ezra Stoller © Esto Formally, the house fuses Miesian minimalism with the Prairie Style of Frank Lloyd Wright, evidenced in the house’s deep overhangs. Reflecting on the house’s eaves in his 1962 memoir, The Evolution of an Architect, Stone writes, “Not only is the overhanging eave an important practical consideration, but I find it aesthetically mandatory on a house with a flat roof, satisfying visually the desire for certain aspects of the pitched roof so long associated with residential architecture.”
A. Conger Goodyear House, Old Westbury, N.Y. Edward Durell Stone Photographer: Ezra Stoller © Esto Defying the opinions of architectural experts, the Village of Old Westbury refused to grant the house landmark status. According to the World Monuments Fund’s website, “A bulldozer and a permit to raze the house were on-site at the time of the Watch announcement.”
A. Conger Goodyear House, Old Westbury, N.Y. Edward Durell Stone Photographer: Ezra Stoller © Esto Architectural historian Caroline Rob Zaleski discovered that Stone was one of the few American architects to see Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona pavilion and to discuss the structure with its maker.
A. Conger Goodyear House, Old Westbury, N.Y. Edward Durell Stone Photographer: Ezra Stoller © Esto Art served as a guiding principle for the design: a gallery for modern paintings functions as the house’s “spinal column,” as Stone writes in The Evolution of an Architect.
A. Conger Goodyear House, Old Westbury, N.Y. Edward Durell Stone Photographer: Ezra Stoller © Esto The cylindrical glass-walled dining room.
A. Conger Goodyear House, Old Westbury N.Y. Edward Durell Stone Photographer: Ezra Stoller © Esto Floor-to-ceiling glass walls look onto a wide lawn of fountains and sculptures.
A. Conger Goodyear House, Old Westbury, N.Y. Edward Durell Stone Photographer: Ezra Stoller © Esto Once situated on 100 wooded acres, the south-facing hilltop house now sits on a five-acre plot.
A. Conger Goodyear House, Old Westbury, N.Y. Edward Durell Stone Photographer: Ezra Stoller © Esto “Mr. Goodyear had, through a long period, collected excellent paintings, china, glass and period furniture which we combined with modern furniture. It all looked beautiful together, for well-designed things are harmonious regardless of their epoch. I had heeded Mr. Luce's admonishment about simple arithmetic—not only did I meet Mr. Goodyear's budget, but there was twenty-five dollars left over.” –Edward Durell Stone, The Evolution of an Architect
A. Conger Goodyear House, Old Westbury N.Y. Edward Durell Stone Photographer: Ezra Stoller © Esto Robert A.M. Stern, dean of the Yale School of Architecture, told The New York Times, “It's one of the few great International Style houses by an American architect of the 1930s. It's a great country house as well and surprisingly luxurious in a Busby Berkeley-meets-Bauhaus kind of way.”
A. Conger Goodyear House, Old Westbury, N.Y. Edward Durell Stone Photographer: Ezra Stoller © Esto “The idea that architecture is something that can only be appreciated by a minuscule minority of precious initiates is all wrong. I think anybody would agree that Chartres is a beautiful thing. I think everybody really is thrilled with the interior of Grand Central Station. I think great architecture, people should sense and feel.” –Edward Durell Stone, 1963, in John Peter’s The Oral History of Modern Architecture
