Shadow Lawn

About this property

Shadow Lawn is a historic building on the campus of Monmouth University in West Long Branch, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. Built in 1927 for Hubert T. Parson, president of the F.W. Woolworth Company, it was one of the last large estate houses to be built before the Great Depression. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985 for its architecture. Shadow Lawn is a large masonry building, three stories in height, with a main facade that is over 300 feet (91 m) wide. A three-bay section projects at the center of the main (south) facade, with a Doric columned single-story portico at its front. A dentillated cornice separates the second and third floors, and a balustrade surrounds the roof, with sculptures mounted on some of the corner columns. The interior has more than 100 rooms, with lavishly appointed public spaces. An interior courtyard is 100 feet (30 m) long, with a covering skylight; its walls are adorned with plaster pilasters and arched window openings. The main hall features a well-concealed Aeolian Skinner organ, and the basement houses a bowling alley that saw little use during the Parsons' ownership. The Shadow Lawn estate was first developed in the early 20th century by John A. McCall, president of the New York Life Insurance Company. Its main house was a 52-room mansion, which in 1916 served as the summer White House for President Woodrow Wilson. Wilson planned many aspects of his reelection campaign from that house. In 1918, the estate was purchased by Hubert T. Parson, president of the F.W. Woolworth Company. The main house was destroyed by fire in 1927, after which Parson and his wife Maysie immediately embarked on building an ostentatious replacement. Sparing no expense, they retained the noted Gilded Age architect Horace Trumbauer, and the design of the present building is credited to Trumbauer and his assistant, Julian Abele. The exterior garden landscape was designed by the French landscape architect Achille Duchêne. By the time the building was complete, the Parsons had spent more than $10 million. They had continued work despite the onset of the Great Depression, which eventually ruined their finances. Unable to recoup the expenditures made on Shadow Lawn by selling it, the property was taken by the town for $100 in 1939. After housing a girls' school for a time, the property became part of Monmouth University in 1956. Shadow Lawn was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 for its significance in art, architecture, and landscape design. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1985. Shadow Lawn was used to portray the mansion of Oliver Warbucks (Albert Finney) in the 1982 film Annie.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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