Litchfield Villa OHNY 2007

The Litchfield Villa was opened as part of Open House New York 2007 and to be honest it was a bit of a disappointment. Perhaps if I had stayed for the architects tours, they would have shown more of the house, but just wandering in did not allow much access at all. The house was built in the mid 1850's and stands at the edge of Prospect Park.
The house was originally home to Edwin Litchfield, who was responsible for the hidden Atlantic Avenue Tunnel (in a roundabout way) and who developed much of Park Slope and the Gowanus Canal. The park was built after the house and after a period of time the house was deeded to the Parks Dept. and has been used as their offices for over 100 years.
Because much of the house is divided into offices, there was not a whole lot to see- just the entrance rotunda with it's gorgeous floor:
You could climb the stairs to the top of the rotunda:
On the second floor there were some offices with glass doors to peek into but overall not very interesting. The detailing around the rotunda opening was pretty nice though.
So it was interesting to see but overall a huge tease to be let into a massive mansion but only be allowed to see the foyer. Maybe more was shown on the tours. Check back for more OHNY 2007 coverage to follow all this week!