The image of a Gothic-style cathedral chair with a heavily detailed back and arm rests and red cushioned seat popped up on a screen in the auction room at Capo Auction Fine Art and Antiques on Saturday afternoon.
The chair, auctioneer Amy Papola said, was once used by Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli while on tour in the United States in 1936 – before he was elected Pope Pius XII in 1939 – when he stayed at the Gold Coast-era, Elizabethan-Tudor-style mansion in North Hills known as Inisfada, which was owned at the time by industrialist Nicholas Brady and his wife Genevieve,
Bids began to trickle in slowly, by phone and by Internet and in person, and Papola encouraged the audience of bidders looking to score a bit of Long Island history before the opportunity passed them by.
“How many chances do you get to buy a throne?” Papola asked.
The throne in question sold for $4,500 and was one of 30-plus furnishings from Inisfada auctioned on Saturday. More than $51,000 in items were sold to benefit Fordham University, which is run by the Jesuit order that previously owned Inisfada and the 33 acres of land the house sits on just off Searingtown Road.
The Jesuit order took ownership of Inisfada, which was built for $2.3 million between 1916-20, after Genevieve Brady died in 1938 and turned it into the St. Ignatius Retreat House. In July, the Jesuit order sold the property to the Manhasset Bay Group Inc. for $36.5 million and donated the house’s St. Genevieve Chapel to Fordham.
Items sold at the auction included an Elizabethan-style carved oak refectory table that Capo officials said dates back to the 16th century, a Jacobean-style carved oak court cupboard dating back to the late 19th century and a late 18th century Italian Baroque-style walnut prie dieu. The highest-selling item was a carved marble statue of a reclining woman that sold for $10,000 and a mahogany book case that brought in $8,500.
“I’d like to see these items go to someone that’s going to keep them, somewhere they would stay for a long time,” said Karen Cangelosi, a senior appraiser for Capo.
After reviewing old photographs of Inisfada’s interiors, Capo appraisers concluded that some of the items up for auction may have been original furnishings from when the Bradys lived at the house, but Cangelosi said it was difficult to know for certain because the Jesuits donated and sold much of the interior after taking over ownership of the house.
She said other items may have been donated back to the Jesuits in the nearly 80 years the Catholic order owned the property.
“My feelings are rather mixed, because I am very much a preservation person and went to a Jesuit college, so I’m very much interested in helping the Jesuits,” Cangelosi said. “In a sense, I’m glad that we have the property, but I feel like it’s sad to see all these beautiful estates being torn down for redevelopment.”
Neither Jesuit officials nor the Manhasset Bay Group. have spoken publicly about their intentions for the 72,000-square-foot house’s future, though North Hills Mayor Marvin Natiss has said the estate’s new owner has expressed interest in turning the 33-acre property into “the jewel of North Hills.” Inisfada has zoning for two houses per acre.
In September, work began to remove asbestos from the house.
Since the house closed on June 2, local politicians, civic groups and preservation societies have expressed interest in keeping Inisfada standing.
The Council for Greater Manhasset Civic Associations filed an application in mid July to put Inisfada on the National Registry of Historic Places, though it did not have the required consent of the Jesuit order. Officials said the application was filed to raise awareness and slow negotiations for the property’s sale.
In addition, officials from the Brooklyn-based health-care company SynergyFirst International said they tried to make a $36 million cash counter offer to the Jesuit order that was neither confirmed nor denied by Rev. Vincent Cooke, who oversaw the sale of the property for the Jesuits.
SynergyFirst also tried to file a request for a temporary restraining order against the sale and deconstruction of Inisfada in Nassau County Supreme Court, but attorney Alexander Levkovich withdrew the filing after the sale of the property to the Manhasset Bay Group was announced in court.
Levkovich said the company believed Judge Randy Sue Marber was unlikely to grant the restraining order because it had been filed against “John Doe” and not a specific organization.
Since the property was sold, Nassau County Legislator Richard Nicolello (R-New Hyde Park) and state Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel (D-Great Neck) have written letters to state Parks Commissioner Rose Harvey calling for Inisfada’s preservation. Town of North Hempstead Councilwoman Anna Kaplan has also expressed interest in seeing the property maintained.
Paul Mateyunas, a Gold Coast historian and real estate agent with Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty, said the auction did not necessarily indicate that Inisfada would be demolished, but reflected an uncertain future for the house now operating under new ownership.
“What it is, is just a reminder that St. Ignatius is not returning,” said Mateyunas, who said he attended the auction with his girlfriend. “It shows that its fate is in the hands of the new owner.”
