Vanderbilt Cup Races

Another great Fairchild shot. Love the Fairchild’s aerials!

Top is East.  I see the Northern State Parkway.  Vanderbilts Deepdale Estate.  Vanderbilts guest house that eventually became the NY State Police barracks.  I see the LIMP coming in from Queens in the lower right corner of the pix.  I see a LIMP bridge west of Marcus Ave.  I cannot tell if the LIMP over Marcus Ave is still there.  I can see the LIMP bridge built by Robert Moses over the Northern Parkway.  I can see the Great Neck Toll Lodge of the LIMP.  The western side of the LIMP Bridge over Lakeville Rd still appears to be there, even if the bridge is clearly gone.  I see part of the North Shore Towers golf course.  I see the original UN Building.

Great Neck / Lake Success area. The top of the picture is east. Major roads: Lakeville Rd. (bisects the picture horizontally), Marcus Ave. (bisects the picture vertically), Northern State Pkwy. (left of Marcus Ave.) LIMP runs from lower right (SW) to the center, then curves to the left and heads north.

My reading eyes aren’t that good anymore but it looks like the Marcus Ave. LIMP bridge has been taken down but the NSP LIMP bridge is still there. Parkway isn’t widened yet. Late 1950s?

Most prominent building is 1111 Marcus Avenue on the upper right. It was the original HQ of the United Nations, and longtime home of Sperry. It is now occupied by Hain Celestial and Northwell Health, among other tenants.

Last week where I grew up - Fresh Meadows. This week where I had my law firm for many years - 3003 Marcus Avenue, across the street from what was Sperry Rand before and during the War, and then the Secretariat Building of the United Nations after the War, until the permanent UN was built on land donated by the Rockefellers between First Ave and the FDR Drive from 43rd to 49th Street, which became ready for occupancy, I think, in ‘51. The Northern State Parkway with the entrances and exits to Lakeville Rd are clearly visible, as is a deteriorated Vanderbilt Parkway. It looks like the first of the buildings for LI Jewish Hospital is visible. So, I’d place the taking of the photo in or about 1954. Neither my office building nor any other office buildings in the Lake Success Quad had been built when the photo was taken.  The remains of Vanderbilt’s Lake Success mansion are visible, as is the Vanderbilt Parkway bridge over Northern State Parkway. Even though the area was, literally, on the City line, it seemed a million miles away from Fresh Meadows.

Looking east above the Motor Parkway you see the Northern State Parkway, (running through the middle of the photo), along with Marcus Avenue and Lakeville Road, as it passes through Lake Sucess. Upper right Building is the Sperry Corporation building which was the first location of the United Nations before they moved to Manhattan. Lake Sucess is in lower left of picture along with the old State Police building just off of the Northern State. (Demolished when the Northern State was enlarged.) Based on the fact that the old motor parkway bridge over the northern state is still there and Long Island Jewish Hospital has not been built, this is circa 1950. Vanderbilt’s Estate is still intact, and his property has not yet been sold for development, also puts the photo around 1950.

Lake Success - intersection of Lakeville Road and Northern State Parkway. Marcus Avenue, Motor Parkway.
December 27, 1951 as per caption on the original photo from the Fairchild digital photo collection.
Robert Moses’ Northern State Motor Parkway Bridge, Lakeville Road Motor Parkway Bridge, Motor Parkway Great Neck Gate Lodge
Willie K’s. Deepdale estate (not his at the time however), temporary (1946 - 1952) home of the United Nations at the Sperry Gyrocscope Corporation’s offices, NY State Police Barracks/Headquarters, Episcopal Church, Glen Oaks Country Club (Golf Course). 

Northern State at Lakeville Road with the Motor Parkway overpass. The orientation of the picture: East is up; west, down; north, left; and south, right. Most notable is Willie K, Jr’s Deepdale estate at Lake Success. The golf course is where North Shore Towers are now.

Lakeville Rd/Northern State Pkwy/Marcus Ave/former LIMP interchange near Lake Success.Building is the Sperry plant/temporary United Nations headquarters. Approximately 1950.Upper portion of picture is the eastern orientation.

This is a photo of the area on the Queens/Nassau border around Lake Success, New Hyde Park and Glen Oaks. East is at the top of the photo and North is to the left. The large building is part of the Sperry Corp. complex. It also once housed the United Nations for a short time. It is now mainly Hain Celestial and Northwell Health offices. Lakeville Rd. cuts across the center of the photo. The LIMP enters from the lower right corner and goes on a diagonal until it meets Marcus Ave. and then crosses the Northern State Parkway. It then heads east along the tree line in the left portion of the photo. The entrance and exit ramp for the Northern State to Marcus Ave. is in the center of the photo and across Marcus Ave. you can see the ellipse at the entrance to the building. Below Lakeville Rd. are fields that are now developed as part of all the medical buildings associated with Northwell/LIJ. A portion of the golf course still exists for North Shore Towers. A portion of Lake Success is in the lower left. The Vanderbilt Deepdale Estate is between the lake and the Parkway. I am attaching a file from the LIMP Google Map that shows the area as it is today. I’m guessing this photo is from the late 40s or early 50s since LIJ was already being built in the mid and late 50s.

I believe this is a photo of the Sperry Gyroscope building in Lake Success, which also was home to the United Nations around 1947 to 1952. The Long Island Motor Parkway can be seen beginning in the lower right hand corner of the photo traveling diagonally northeast. The first road it intersects is Marcus Avenue (where the Marcus Avenue Motor Parkway bridge once stood). It then crosses the Motor Parkway Bridge (since removed) over the Northern State Parkway. The road running parallel east is Lakeville Road. You can also follow the abandoned parkway north over the Motor Parkway Bridge and then east over Lakeville Road where the Lakeville Road Motor Parkway bridge once crossed and continuing behind the new housing development being constructed. Based on the Sperry Gyroscope building and a search of the building date records on the new housing development, my guess is this photo is between 1951-1953.

We’re over Lake Success with east being at the top of the photo. The two roads running top to bottom are Marcus Avenue and Northern State Parkway. Lakeville Road goes from left to right thru the center. Based on the lack of foliage on the trees and the dates on the license plates of the cars, I think the date is late in 1951, probably around December 27, 1951. The LIMP structures from upper left to lower right are: roadway remnants; Great Neck Lodge, Lakeville Road western bridge abutment slope; Moses bridge over LIMP; Marcus Avenue bridge and/or remnants; Vanderbilt farmway bridge. Other structures etc. are Willie K.‘s Deepdale estate including the guest house (which I think had been converted to the police barracks by now), Glen Oaks Golf Club and clubhouse, Willie K.‘s old estate gatehouse, an early LIJ Hospital structure, and the huge Sperry (temporary U.N.) Complex. I also think I see the old Schumacher house. (P.S. I cheated on the date, having found the original photo in the NYS Archives.)

Lake Success is in the bottom left of the picture and I believe the direction of east would be pointing up in the photo.  The LIMP starts at the bottom right and goes up diagonally up and to the left until it runs parallel just below Lakeview road.  We can see LIMP overpasses over Marcus ave and the Northern state parkway.  Cohen’s children’s hospital is in the upper right.  That opened in 1983 so I’ll guess this pictures was taken sometime in the mid 80’s.

Glen Oaks/Lake Success with east up.

GCP/NSP, Lakeville Rd, Motor Parkway, Marcus Av.

NYS Trooper barracks removed 1967, Lakeville Rd Parkway bridge removed 1940s, Robert Moses LIMP bridge over NSP removed 1967, Marcus Av Parkway bridge removed 1940s, Vanderbilt Farmway bridge removed 1970s;
I’d say photo was taken early 1950s.

Vanderbilt Farmway bridge overpass,
Marcus Av Parkway bridge (removed),
Robert Moses west Parkway bridge,
Lakeville Rd Parkway bridge (removed)
Great Neck Lodge,
Smith Farmway bridge underpass (removed)

Sperry Gyroscope Plant,
NYS Trooper barracks,
Glen Oaks Country Club,
Vanderbilt Deepdale Estate (remnants)
Future site of LIJ Hospital, and North Shore Towers.