Update 2/8/24: Here’s a story about ELDA by Robert Blum.
Just received news that ELDA Castle, the Abercrombie & Fitch founder’s home built in 1927-35 was destroyed by fire:
https://patch.com/new-york/chappaqua/fire-vacant-abercrombie-fitch-castle-tests-fire-crews-fabric
Here’s an earlier article on the history:
And two of my earlier blog-posts:
https://www.dougleen.com/2010/05/18/ranger-doug-goes-to-washington/
https://www.dougleen.com/2016/05/13/elda-revisited/
My grandmother’s brother, David T. Abercrombie was the founder of Abercrombie & Fitch and built this home for his family of four children: Elizabeth, Lucy, David and Abbott; hence the name ELDA, after their first name initials. Daughter Lucy was killed in a factory explosion in 1929: https://www.nytimes.com/1929/11/28/archives/lucy-abercrombie-is-killed-by-blast-daughter-of-merchant-is.html. Lucy’s husband David T, died in 1931. Son David was kicked by his horse in 1937 in Wyoming and died two weeks later in Idaho Falls. Lucy lost her family after only living in the house for a few years–what a fleeting happiness she lived. She yielded the residence to her Portuguese caretakers in 1939 and moved back to New York City. In 1941 one wing of this massive structure blew up–four foot stone walls reinforced by Abbott Steel (Monitor, Merrimack, US Capitol Rotunda Dome structure) but most of the castle survived. Methinks it was part of the Manhattan Project……as the next owner was Jim Herrick, who studied under Norman Ramsay who won the Nobel Prize and worked on the Manhattan Project. The property was eventually bought by Beth Lamont, whose husband was an FDR buddy Corliss Lamont–son of Thomas Lamont and partner of J. P. Morgan. The “castle” has sat empty for decades and has slowly degraded with a few sales around $3M; the latest to a Chinese “investor” who has apparently abandoned the project. This building should be restored and put into the public domain as a park.