An exquisite time capsule, the Marion Carll Farmhouse on Long Island has been vacant for years owing to a lack of funds and a legal struggle over ownership rights. The local school board and district offered photographer Bryan Sansivero rare access to the fascinating Victorian home before its numerous antiques and curios were taken. Take a look around the house that time forgot and be transported to another age.
A Faded Beauty
The nine-acre property, located in the hamlet of Commack in Suffolk County, New York, dates back to 1701, while the clapboard farmhouse was completed on the eve of the Civil War in 1860. The property was named after Marion Carll, a long-time resident who was born in 1885.
A Pillar Of The Community
Marion Carll was a well-known teacher in the region who went on to organize the town’s first PTA and have a grammar school named after her in 1957. When she died in 1968, she left the home to the Commack School Board and District with the condition that it be utilized strictly for educational and historical reasons.
A Fight For Ownership
Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) provided sporadic classes, but they were discontinued in the 1990s owing to a lack of financing. Since then, the home and neighboring farm have been abandoned. Ms Carll’s descendants filed a lawsuit against the school board and district in 2012, accusing them of failing to follow the terms of their ancestor’s final will and testament.
Period Details
A judge on the New York State Supreme Court found that the school board and district had the right to keep possession of the land. You can see why they battled over this house. While deteriorating, it has a lot of vintage charm. Ms Carll was evidently determined to retain the farmhouse’s 19th-century appeal and did little, if anything, to modernize it throughout her lifetime, which is brimming with excellent antiques and unusual curios.
The Parlour
Such a time-traveling residence! The parlor is filled with beautifully evocative objects, including this elaborate piano by New York City firm Calenberg & Vaupel. Four years after the farmhouse was built, the company began producing musical instruments.
Antique Medicines
Empty bottles that formerly held strange concoctions abound about the farmhouse. Take note of the Pyranzine paint-stripping potion and the jar labeled ‘Laudanum,’ a super-potent and dangerously addictive opium tincture meant to alleviate pain.
Untouched Rooms
Despite being blanketed in dense dust, the house appears to be empty. Her ancient sewing machine is ready for use in what would be a pleasant position beside the window if the curtains were open.
Locked-up Riches
Ms Carll kept her belongings in a safe made by the well-known Hall’s Secure Company. The company, which was founded in Cincinnati in the mid-nineteenth century, manufactures some of the best safes and locks in the world and is still going strong today.
Original Features
The farmhouse’s rooms contain beautiful marble fireplaces, and while the wallpaper is peeling, the property’s original elements, such as the door frames and skirting boards, remain in astonishingly fine shape.
Decorative Flourishes
The property is filled with charming details. These vintage homewares include exquisitely embroidered pillows and blankets, elegant china items, and this enamel chamber pot filled with fabric flowers.
A Family Home
Photos of the Carll family are displayed on a table in the farmhouse. The family members look to be comfortably well-off and highly civilized, as seen by the beautiful apparel they are wearing.
The Ravages Of Time
While some portions of the home appear to be in fair condition, others appear to be crumbling and in desperate need of restoration work. This deteriorating wall, for example, has clearly seen better days.
The Dining Room
The dining room is equally as well-appointed and exquisite as the rest of the farmhouse’s rooms. A strong hardwood table dominates the center, while an imposing cabinet off to the side displays the family’s fine china and glassware.
Retro Remedies
In this photograph, photographer Bryan Sansivero captures another unusual bottle: Humphrey’s “30,” a homeopathic medication to help reduce incontinence and bedwetting. Surprisingly, the traditional mixture is still available and may even be purchased on Amazon.
The Farmhouse Dresser
This dresser in the farmhouse kitchen appears to hold the family’s daily dinnerware. The chinoiserie Blue Willow design was extremely popular in America throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Old Lace
A box of sewing threads and a dressmaking dummy wrapped with a beautiful lace piece, apparently hand-tailored by Ms. Carll herself, can be found in the master bedroom.
A Picture Of Neglect
This broader image of the master bedroom demonstrates what years of emptiness and neglect can do to a previously immaculately maintained residence. The paint on the walls is flaking, and the floor and furnishings are cluttered with junk.
A 1930s Timepiece
This wind-up Ingraham Meteor alarm clock, another Art Deco item, was made in 1936. It rests next to a dusty empty bottle of C. C. Parsons’ Household Ammonia, a once-essential cleaning chemical.
Faded Fashions
A Grand Inheritance
Luckily, photographer Bryan Sansivero was able to capture the beauty of this time capsule home before it was gone, providing a window into the past and the life of a deserving Long Island citizen.
The Future?
In June 2019, Long Island University leased the majority of the acreage for this Veterinary School. The Board of Education has said that the leasing earnings would be used to renovate this great old farmhouse, but several members of the Save Marion Carl Farm Facebook page are skeptical that this is the best course of action. We can only hope that this lovely structure is maintained and that Marion’s legacy lives on!