Customer Reviews

Winfield: Living in the Shadow of the Woolworths

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I envy Monica Randall her ability to throw herself passionately into everything she does. She reminds me of the character Diane Lane plays in UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN. It's almost as though she had been reincarnated and a piece of her (perhaps her old soul) still wanted to cling to the heyday of the Gold Coast mansions of Long Island, which, when she was coming of age in the 1950s and 1960s, were all coming down, torn to pieces, their vast acreages sold to developers to put up ticky tacky development housing. As Randall explains, the Second World War was a two edges sword. Not only did it become impossible to find good help, because any servant could make better wages doing war work in defense plants and factories, but after the war many young men received the GI Bill which in turn created an overwhelming demand for family housing on a mass scale, and this is what led to the abandonment of most of these estates.

She and her sister set out to save the elegant furnishings and electrical work, and thus she snagged many Tiffany lamps and other window-like decorations when she was still a teenager. They were just in the rubbish, or in the way of an uncaring bulldozer, so she would just put them in her car. I'd love to see her Tiffany collection, for example. Perhaps she will make that the subject of her next book.

In the meantime she has given us a tale of shivers and evil. I grew tense reading about the one Gold Coast mansion with its parquet floors, each stone was actually, if you looked closely, a tombstone from a child's grave! How depraved was the owner of such an evil house! No wonder the sad voices of children and other victims of a predatory capitalism continue to speak as we visit what remains of the place of their shame and their abuse.

It's not a consoling book, but it will keep you up all night, so try to read this one during the daytime, with the curtains wide open, to let in the sun, let it dapple the pages of this enchanting tour de force.

The author begins by pulling you into the horror she feels at watching the famed Gold Coast mansions be razed to make way for new development. I found myself drawn into the activities of the Gold Coast Rescue Club which used just about every trick in the book, so to speak, to rescue what artifacts they could from the crumbling and neglected mansions and related outbuildings. (You'll be amazed at what they manage to rescue from obscurity) This is a fascinating story, not just of Woolworth and his eccentricities or Winfield Manor, but of a life long love of the architectural monuments from an era that has long since come and gone. The story weaves from her adolescent years to living in a Woolworth heiress mansion to meeting and falling in love with the man who purchased Winfield in the late 70's and her subsequent move into the estate. Don't confuse this as an all encompassing narrative on Woolworth, his family or Winfield. Rather, it's a gripping story of one woman's love of an era and her involvement with one particular magnificent Gold Coast Mansion.

Winfield is one of the best books I have read in a while. It has a great combination of history and the authors direct experience, revolving around the mansion built and lived in by F.W. Woolworth. Anyone from the area (Long Island) will enjoy this book that much more! The story is well written and the novels reads with a very nice flow. The book also has enough clues to help you find the mansion, should you have the urge to search it out... (By the way as of today, 10/19/04, the mansion is on the market for a cool $20 million). Enjoy!

This book is a must for anyone who in interested in History and has empathy for old houses. I enjoyed this book tremedously and could not put it down. Ms Randall has certainly researched her subject extremely well, and has made Winfield, and all the other houses on the Gold Coast come alive. The lifestyles of the families who inhabited these houses are fascinating. One is left with a clear understanding of Ms. Randall's sympathy for these beautiful old places, and a sense of sadness also for the loss and dereliction of so many of these national treasures.
Winfield is a wonderful story and would make a wonderful movie.

Add a star if you are from Glen Cove or the local area. This book is not what I expected. I purchased thinking it would be an historical account of the mansion and its occupants but it turned out to a compelling ghost story. It was enjoyable and informative.

I just loved this book. Having read and loved Monica Randall's book [first edition] Mansions of the Long Island Gold Coast I was especially interested in reading more about her adventures on the North Shore of Long Island. I wasn't disappointed. This book is well written and offers a wonderful view into Monica Randall's life as she worked, sometimes undercover of night, to document and save the mansions and their contents. Her story is a haunting tale that focuses on Winfield, her connections to it, and the brief time she spent living in it, while sharing her connection with other of the famous mansions, both lost and saved.

This book is a memoir, yet chronicles a haunted house. Its very interesting and the author does a great job describing the "Gold Coast" of Long Island. The history of the area, however, does not overwhelm the story, which according to the author is true. Read this book if you are interested in the history of Long Island or ghosts.

I bought this book as a gift for a friend, then after scanning its jacket, was unable to gift it until I read it!

It was gripping, interesting, and because I read it three nights running before falling asleep, altering. Unlike deliberate horror stories, its potential reality was just enough to scare the beejeebers out of me, yet I could not put it down.

Monica says little about her odd relationship with the owner of Winfield, and I can't help but wonder what happened there, but she is respectful of the relationship and instead tells a fascinating tale of old money, old houses and old memories.

It's a wonderful tale.

This was exactly what I was looking for: a nicely written, page-turning ghost story. The perfect summer beach vacation book --- or anytime, for that matter. Just don't read this before going to bed.

An extravagant thrill ride through a haunted mansion, this book illustrates author Monica Randall's lifelong relationship with Winfield Hall. I'd stumbled upon this book on the Internet after having read Randall's excellent "The Mansions of Long Island's Gold Coast." Although there is a newer edition of "Mansions," I'd read the 1979 book, and was fascinated with her references to Winfield, built in 1916 by dime-store magnate F.W. Woolworth.

"Winfield" takes us through Randall's youth as a treasure hunter and up-and-coming preservationist. She recounts the heartbreakingly careless destruction of priceless estates along Long Island's North Shore. As a young woman in the 1960s, Randall takes up residence in the Woodward "Playhouse," a property previously owned by a member of the Woolworth family. The Playhouse had its own share of infamy when, in 1955, its owner, William Woodward, Jr., was shot and killed by his wife, who mistook him for a burglar.

While living in the Playhouse, Randall becomes acquainted with the next two owners of Winfield. When the property and its contents are sold at auction in 1975, she meets and eventually falls in love with the new co-owner of the estate. Shortly after Randall moves into the mansion, the creepshow begins. Apparently, Randall served as a conduit for a host of supernatural episodes, enough for her to solicit the help of psychics and ghost-hunters. While the experience must have been unbearable for Randall, it serves as a rollicking ghost story for the reader.

The writing can be rather heavy-handed at times, and there are more than a few typographical errors. However, Randall lavishes the us with historical details, providing a unique portrait of an astounding residence. She conducted a wealth of research into Winfield, as well as other North Shore estates, and the book is a treasure trove of little-known facts Long Island in the Gilded Age.