D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A J O H N A N D S H A R O N L O E B H O ST E D A D I N N E R AT T H E S C A N D I N AV I A H O U S E
Deborah Norville and Karl Wellner
By the late 1920s, Southampton had become socially fashionable among rich New Yorkers, often those with newer fortunes. Wyckoff, then 84, sold his property to Jessie Woolworth Donahue, one of the three daughters of F. W. Woolworth, who made what would be billions today with his five-and-dime stores. By purchasing 15 acres and 610 feet of oceanfront, Jessie (the maternal aunt of the aforementioned Barbara Hutton) was looking to move into Southampton society with the biggest and the best. She had the place done over, and in record time, because she wanted it for that summer 32 QUEST
Lee and CeCe Black
Donald and Barbara Tober
of 1929. The gardens were made to be more extensive to include six different gardens surrounded by a vast, flat lawn. She also built a beach house with a pavilion containing a 30- by 60-foot indoor pool. That beach house is what is now known as the main house of the Manuto property. The Donahues named the property “Wooldon.” (Wool-worth plus Don-ahue, get it?) When it was ready for occupancy, it was considered the best house on Long Island. Cleveland Amory, in his book, The Last Resorts, quoted Jessie’s reprobate husband James giving guests a tour of the house and, as they en-
Francesca Stanfill and Richard Nye
Alexis Gregory and Jill Spalding
tered the dining room, saying, “Come on in and see it; all the silver’s gold.” The Donahues moved in with their two sons, Woolworth and James, Jr., who was known as Jimmy. For whatever reason, they did not make the cut socially. It certainly wasn’t because they were outclassed financially. It might have been the reputation of James, Sr., who was known to be a gambler, a drunk, and actively (flauntingly) bisexual. After only two years on the impossible climbs, Jessie got herself the hell out of town— on a yacht, heading for sunnier climes abroad, such as Monte Carlo. Her husband killed
John and Sharon Loeb
himself two years later in their New York townhouse on East 80th Street, just off Fifth Avenue. He had been playing a card game in the house and was losing, so he got up from the table and went into the bathroom, where he took an overdose and died. Wooldon was never occupied again by the Donahues and remained unused for the next five years. In 1937, it was sold at auction, for a price much lower than it had cost, to Edward F. Lynch of the brokerage house of Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Beane. Remember them? They’re now known as Merrill Lynch. Lynch bought it for the
PAT R I C K M C M U LL A N
Adrienne and Gianluigi Vittadini