Glenmere Mansion

From the Hideaway Report

September 2011 Hideaway Report

Since its debut last year, Glenmere Mansion, an 18-room Italianate villa, has received a chorus of swooning praise from the travel press. For once, I tend to concur. The result of a heroic refurbishment, Glenmere goes a long way to address the relative dearth of quality properties within easy driving distance of New York City.

The house itself has a familiar story: Gilded Age mansion suffers decades of Miss Havisham-like decline (owls nesting in the ballroom, county tax liens) until our protagonist Dan DeSimone, an orthopedic surgeon, spots it moldering on a hill during a leisurely Sunday drive and calls his broker. Several years and a hefty investment later, the old pile is reborn into a fetching weekend escape that effortlessly blends the old with the new.

What does $30 million spent on an 18-room property look like? Very nice, indeed. Driving up the hill, you are greeted by a wonderfully discordant image: a bright Mediterranean villa with cheery pink stucco walls and pale blue awnings set amid classic British countryside. Formal gardens are strewn with vine-covered arbors and playful statuary, and a broad lawn spills magnificently down to Glenmere Lake.

Inside, a handful of sparkling public rooms surrounds a sunny cortile. Guest rooms, which range widely from cozy ground-floor nooks to a grand suite with a fireplace in its bath, all feature writing desks, reading chairs and fireplaces with Chesney’s gas logs from London. And the baths are minor symphonies of Carrara marble. I suggest starting with the Superior Rooms, as the Deluxe Rooms on the ground floor felt a bit cramped.

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