This postcard from the Harvey Ginsberg Postcard Collection shows the D.W. McCord House on Hither Lane. Also known as the Dr. Clarence Rice House, it was designed by Grosvenor Atterbury (1869-1956).
The East Hampton Star reported in April 1899 that Rice had hired J.E. Van Orden of Great River to finish the job by July, and the plan was to bring in a crew of 50 “mechanics.” The Rice house was Atterbury’s second project in East Hampton, after the Creeks, and it featured views of Hook Pond and the ocean, low towers, eyebrow windows, a layout inspired by the Shingle Style, and several porches.
Dr. Clarence Rice (1855-1935) was a prominent ear, nose, and throat doctor who taught at New York Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital for many years. The house doctor for the Metropolitan Opera, his patients included Enrico Caruso, the famed Italian tenor.
Rice sold the house to William S. Williams (1864-1955), who ran a company that sold food goods, including fancy pickles and maple syrup. Williams moved his company’s manufacturing to Bay Shore 1908, and within a few years he and his wife followed.
In 1916 he sold the house to David W. McCord (1865-1945), who was born in Illinois and retired as vice president of the McCord Manufacturing Company of Detroit, which made mechanical pieces for engines and radiators. The McCords had summered in East Hampton beginning in 1904, while maintaining a home in New York City.
Unfortunately, on July 21, 1920, the McCord house burned to the ground. The Star recounted the heroic efforts of neighbors and the East Hampton Fire Department, which encountered problems with water pressure. Men and boys from nearby banded together to rescue “nearly everything of any value on the first floor,” including silverware and furnishings.
Apparently, the McCords remained on their property on Hither Lane after the fire, rebuilding before their daughter Janet’s 1925 wedding to Francis H. Cook (1899-1969), grandson of Joseph Fahys, owner of the watchcase factory in Sag Harbor.
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Andrea Meyer, a librarian and archivist, is head of collection for the Long Island Collection.
