Long Island's Prominent North Shore Families: Their Estates and Their Country Homes. Volume I: 1 Paperback – Import, 2 July 2019

I love old houses and the history behind them and Long Island's "Gold Coast" is one of the places I've researched about. One house in particular, "Elm Court" the former Edgar F. Luckenbach, Sr. Estate off of Middleneck Road (used to be known as Port Washington Boulevard) I've all but fallen in love with ever since I began collecting photographs of it. I have scoured periodicals and digital collections of museums and universities to find anything on the house and even contacted several historical societies and even libraries to just get some kind of link to more information. When I was reccomended this book by the Spinzia's I was excited and wondered what would I be seeing maybe new photographs or new information that could point me to more information??The book arrived today and all I can say is that I'm dissapointed. I mean it is a great book to have for all the detailed, painstaking research the authour(s) have put into this tome but there's next to no photographs in the book. Only on certain estates. Elm Court's information in particular matches the information given to me by the archivist at the Port Washington Public Library word-for-word. I thought there would be more because I've read that this book is a "must have." It left me wanting more, and feeling silly for spending how much I spent on the book.

I PURCHASED THIS EXCELLANT BOOK TO HELP RESEARCH MY FAMILY. THE ROSE FAMILY IS MENTIONED AND THE EXTREMELY WELL RESEARCHED HISTORY OF EACH FAMILY HAS ADDED TO THE QUALITY OF MY RESEARCH. THIS IS A MUST HAVE ITEM.

Having great interest in the mansions on the Gold Coast and Long Island I purchased this book only to find it was mostly written descriptions w/some history. Pictures were few and far between. A bit on the boring side.

Volume I and II are perhaps the most in-depth resources covering the North Shore gilded age architectural treasures lost and the shells of what remain. The very sharp authors know their subjects exceedingly well and have done exhaustive research.That said I strongly caution those folks who are looking for a glossy coffee table, photographic rich, book to drink in the opulence and history to keep looking. This is not the book for them.The utilitarian printing of each volume (over 1,100 pages between the two books) is more akin to a soft cover academic text book. Photographs are limited, black and white, and have a look as if they were reproduced on a Xerox machine. Granted many homes are lost and whatever images that may exist are rare. Still however, for example, F. Ambrose Clark's 'Broad Hollow' has appeared in several other books in all its glory. Yet in these books that same estate complex doesn't fair so well.If you own or look at the book, "Long Island Country Houses and Their Architects, 1860 - 1940", you'll find better photos and a more polished final presentation. However for more accuracy, a greater depth in the text, and uniformity in the presentation then these two Volumes are superior.