Kragsyde
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shingle style
Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts
| Kragsyde | |
|---|---|
Kragsyde, from the south, c. 1890 | |
![]() Interactive map of the Kragsyde area | |
| General information | |
| Type | Summer cottage Shingle style |
| Location | 27 Smith's Point Road Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts |
| Coordinates | 42°33′44″N 70°46′17″W / 42.562222°N 70.771444°W |
| Completed | 1885 |
| Demolished | 1929 |
| Cost | $60,000 (1885) |
| Owner | George Nixon Black Jr. |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 3.5 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architects | Peabody & Stearns Frederick Law Olmsted (landscape design) |
| Main contractor | Roberts & Hoare |
Kragsyde (1883–85 – 1929) was a Shingle style mansion designed by the Boston architectural firm of Peabody & Stearns and built at Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts. Demolished in 1929, it remains an icon of American architecture.
Kragsyde was commissioned by George Nixon Black Jr. (1842–1928), heir to a Boston real estate fortune, who had been a Harvard classmate of architect Robert Swain Peabody. In 1882, Black paid $10,000 ($0.33 million today) for the 6 acre (2.4 ha) oceanfront plot on a peninsula called Smith's Point, overlooking Lobster Bay. Local contractor Roberts & Hoare built the house, 1883–85, for approximately $60,000 ($2.15 million today). Dramatically set upon a high rock outcropping, the rambling house was famous in its day and was published both in North America and Europe. Black and his sister occupied it every summer from May to October until the end of their lives.[1]
Architectural historian Vincent Scully described Kragsyde as "a masterpiece," and stated that "Peabody & Stearns never again, to my knowledge, created a house of such quality."[2]



