Home
Up
Lakehouse
Knapp & Thorne
Carousel
Orphan Asylum

Knapp & Thorne Estates

A History of Brookwood Hall

          The story of Brookwood Hall is, in many ways, the story of the change and development that characterized all Long Island communities in the past century.

The 41-room present-day mansion was built in 1903 by Harry K. Knapp of Manhattan, one of the city's many millionaire businessmen who chose the South Shore of Islip Town as a summer retreat for themselves and their families.  The original site was over 100 acres, extending to the East Islip railroad station on the north and Route 111 on the west.  With its stately columns and overhanging porticoes, the main building was a perfect example of Georgian Revival architecture and Harry Knapp's elegant, cultivated taste.

The elder Knapp left the building to his son, Theodore Knapp, a sportsman with little interest in running an estate, especially in the years just before the Great Depression.  Knapp sold the estate in 1929 to Francis B. Thorne, a wealthy stockbroker and brother of the philanthropist Langdon K. Thorne.

Francis Thorne Sr. was never a businessman and had bought the estate at the worst possible time.  The family fortune went steadily downhill, so that from having 29 servants in 1929, Brookwood Hall was maintained by only three just ten years later.

Despite severe financial problems, Thorne maintained the estate as somewhat of a cultural center to augment the education and training of his children - especially Francis Thorne Jr. Young Francis, who was to become an eminent musician and classical composer, was seven years old when the family moved to the mansion.  The child had four sisters and a brother, many of them also musically gifted.  The life Francis described was one of great gentility, combining frequent musical gatherings and the requisite social events.  In 1930, when his oldest sister made her debut, the servants set huge candleholders along the walkways going to the lake.  At an appointed moment, the electricity was turned off and the servants carried the candles in a twinkling parade through the lush greenery to the ballroom and the waiting guest.

 The gesture was typical of the many romantic moments the Thorne’s created for their extensive set of friends and family.

After graduating from Yale in 1942 and serving in the Navy, Francis Thorne Jr. decided to devote himself fulltime to his musical career.  He moved to Manhattan where he founded the American Composers Alliance, a revolutionary group which presented a forum for the composers of the day, including such diverse figures as Charles Ives, Roger Sessions, John Phillip Sousa and Duke Ellington.  Mr. Thorne’s own compositions were widely played.  His "Elegy for Orchestra" was commissioned by Eugene Ormandy for the Philadelphia Orchestra, and his passionate promotion of jazz shaped the direction of American music for several decades. Given the estate's link to musical and cultural history, it is fitting that Brookwood Hall is now the Islip Art Museum and the offices of the Islip Arts Council, in addition to the Town of Islip's Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs.

The Thorne ownership, and the golden era of the estate, ended in 1942 with Francis's departure for the city and the sale of Brookwood Hall to the  Orphan Asylum Society of Brooklyn  which had been displaced from its building by the Navy's war needs.  The Orphan Asylum operated the Brookwood Hall Orphanage for as many as 72 orphans for the next 23 years.  The wards grew all their own produce on the grounds and were often mentioned in newspaper accounts during the war years because of their elaborate Victory Gardens.  

In 1965, the Orphan Society sold the property to Alfred and Fred Wimmer, who in turn sold it to the Town of Islip on January 6, 1967, for $385,000.

Copyright © 2008 by the East Islip Historical Society. All rights reserved.
For problems or questions regarding this web contact   eihs@eastislip.org