Nassau County Photo Archives Center

Albert Boardman Barnes worked as one of New York City’s most successful attorneys.  Most notably, Barnes was the lawyer responsible for obtaining the necessary land grants for the construction of the Pennsylvania Railroad and New York City subway system.  Paving the way for the New York City transit system provided Barnes extreme wealth. 

 

As most wealthy New Yorkers of the time, Barnes moved his family to a summer estate, Villa Mille Fiore, constructed around 1910.  The estate name, Villa Mille Fiore roughly translates into “house of 1,000 flowers”.  Barnes hired the architectural firm Hill & Stout to model the Roman Villa de Medici.  This Beaux Arts extravagance quickly became a status symbol of wealth and power in the Hamptons communities. 

 

The Barnes estate was located at the intersection of Great Plains Road and Coopers Neck Lane.  Gary Lawrence, co-author of the book Houses of the Hamptons, 1880-1930, described the home by writing, “Of all the fantastical dwellings…the sumptuous Southampton estate of Albert Boardman was among the most distinctive…it embodied everything that a summer mansion in the sand should be.”

 

Barnes vacated the property in 1923 when he hired another architectural firm to build him a different estate residence elsewhere.  He sold the estate to his long-time partner at the law firm, Morgan O’Brien.  Villa Mille Fiori was demolished in the 1960s.   

 

 

 

 

 

For more information, please view the Related Resources tab and visit:

• The sale of the property

• Property listing by Soethby's

• Wikimapia view of the gates and grounds