The Carriage House

The Carriage House. . , Designed by James Gamble Rogers in 1912, the first floor of this building housed the Harkness' motor cars, stables and dog grooming areas. It accommodated 5 cars, 3 limousines and a truck which supplied 1,500 pounds of ice to the mansion every other day in the summer months. An interesting feature of the main garage was the huge turn table which allowed the chauffeurs to turn the cars by hand and back them against the garage wall. This turntable also had an overhead hose and surface drainage to accommodate washing the cars before putting them away. A separate wing on the south side of the building was known as the "sports complex". It housed the Billiard Room, bowling alley and squash court as well as marble lined shower rooms and toilets. A door on the south side of this wing led out to the clay tennis courts. , The courtyard of the Carriage House had a 3,000 gallon underground storage tank for fuel oil. The second floor of the Carriage House had guest rooms for visiting servants and chauffeurs. Several other apartments located in the corners of the main block were used by Harkness staff. Additional accommodations above each wing were used by seasonal staff- those who assisted in preserving the food grown on the farm. The third floor was used for storage of guests' trunks. A large winch still remains to lift trunks from the visitors' cars to the third floor. , The basement, which opens out to the fields in the back, houses the furnace, electrical panels and storage for over wintering corms for gladiolas and dahlias. , ( photo captions ) , , Motor Car (west) Entrance , South Entrance