Chestnut Court: History, Elegance, and William Adams Delano Style

By Deb R. Brimer
Contributing Writer

If the walls of this timeless 1914 treasure could talk, what name-dropping stories they could tell! Some of the world’s most notable structures are among the works of award-winning New York architect, William Adams Delano, including palatial mansions for the Rockefeller family and Otto Kahn. But Chestnut Court was his personal haven that he designed for himself.

Located at 2 Chestnut Court in Muttontown, New York, this 6,100-square-foot stucco Tudor contains two and three levels, eight bedrooms, five-and-a-half baths, and an immaculately-landscaped two-acre estate with a stone patio, wooden deck, and swimming pool.

The masterfully-designed interior is a fusion of yesterday and today. Though the open island kitchen – with granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, and ceramic tile flooring – reflects the look and feel of the modern era, Delano’s flair for historic elegance is woven throughout other rooms of the home.

Delano had a penchant for the Breaux-Arts style. After receiving his undergraduate degree from Yale University in 1895, he studied at the Ecole des Breaux Arts in Paris where he earned a diploma in 1903. When he and Chester Aldrich subsequently opened the Delano & Aldrich architectural firm, the two began adapting the more conservative Federal and Georgian styles for several structures, including social clubs for the Astors, Vanderbilts, and Whitneys.

Mingling with the elite was nothing new to Delano who came from a prominent Massachusetts family and was a distant cousin of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Neither was designing elite buildings.

Delano’s work ran the gamut from academic buildings at Yale, the American Embassy in Paris, and the Post Office building in the Federal Triangle redevelopment to terminals at LaGuardia and Miami airports, interiors of the Grand Central Art Galleries, and the notorious Truman Balcony at the White House.

The mansion Delano designed on Long Island for financier Otto Kahn was the nation’s second-largest residence, which encompassed more than 109,000 square feet and employed a staff of 125. In contrast, Delano’s design work that lives-on at Chestnut Court is a bargain at $1.65 million. For architectural aficionados, it’s comparable to a fine piece of art.

Listed by Linda Kennedy of Daniel Gale-Locust Valley, this historic treasure is priced at $1.65 million. Want to see more photos? Click here.