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Overlooking
Ithaca, NY from within Cornell University. Photo: JH.
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Robin Roberts was a Broadway dancer who happened into the textile
and fabrics business to keep a roof over his head and from that need
created something called Clarence House, one of the most prosperous
businesses of its kind in New York.
And he made a fortune. With some
of that fortune he built himself his own private paradise in Bedford
New York, collaborating with architect Milton Klein, landscape architect
Armand Benedek and interior designers, the late Jay Spectre with Geoffrey
Bradfield.
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Primeval
forest
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The result: Twin Ponds, a modernist structure of glass and
concrete built over a pond and surround by almost 22
acres of gardens, including a “primeval forest” where he imported trees and vegetation
from all over the world. Rare and exotic woods play an important
role in the house’s design. The library is paneled in zebra
wood. The dining room is paneled in lacquered Macassar ebony wood
(and overlooks a waterfall). The master suite, which occupies the
entire second floor (with two baths) is paneled in checkered bird’s
eye maple with views of the owner’s entire domain.
On the property there is a stilt hedge of linden, a double allee
of 60 Kwanzan cherry trees, as well as a Japanese garden, a meditation
garden, a Zen garden, a rose garden and an English garden. |
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The
pool and the house
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The
mainhouse is entered through a glass foyer and
interior bridge leading to a two-story stepdown living room.
The fully equipped chef’s kitchen opens onto a two-story
glass dining atrium filled with tropical plants.
Beyond the mainhouse there is a two-bedroom cottage with heated garage/worshop
area, a sprawling heated barn, a two-bedroom, four-bath cabana with gym including
hot tub and an environmental room, as well as tennis court with stone pavilion,
and the pool.
It’s less than an hour’s drive from the city and once there, as Mr.
Roberts planned it, you’re in your very own pastoral hideaway. |
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