Baruch & Bagatelle: Part 6: 1955-Present

When we left off last week, Herman Baruch passed away and his children took ownership of Bagatelle.

Though without a trip to Riverhead I could not locate the exact details of the real estate transactions that Robert and Marina Baruch undertook with regard to their father's Bagatelle estate, the reports that follow act as evidence that they sold the estate to the Brooklyn Diocese in 1954:

The superintendent's home of the Bagatelle estate was completely destroyed by a fire as reported in the March 25, 1955 Deer Park Wyandanch News.  The fire "completely gutted a superintendent's home, a garage, and destroyed part of a hot house at the former Baruch estate in Wyandanch… Also reported to be destroyed by the fire was a bus that transported children from St. Philomena's Training School to the Diocese ground for a day's outing… The Baruch estate had been known as 'Bagatelle,' and is reported to have been sold last year to the Brooklyn Diocese."

On April 21, 1955 The Long Islander announced that "One of the largest real estate transactions in recent years in Huntington Township has been recorded in the County Clerk's office with the sale of property held by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn in Half Hollows and Dix Hills… The property is in the route of the proposed expressway, and comprises part of the Bagatelle estate of the late Dr. Herman Baruch…."  The Brooklyn Diocese sold part of their land to a developer, but also retained a good portion of the estate, including the main house.

According to a Newsday article dated September 8, 1960 article, it was the Sisters of the Good Shepherd who purchased the land.  At first the estate was used for summer recreation for busloads of girls from the St. Philomena School in Brooklyn.  The girls would come out for the day and use the pool and grounds for their entertainment before returning to the city at the end of the day.  As Newsday put it, "On an 87- acre estate where millionaires once romped, 117 girls from poor, broken homes are finding balm for their troubles lives." 

By 1963, however, an entire school had been built on the estate and it replaced the then 94-year-old St. Philomena's School in Brooklyn.  The school was built specifically for troubled teenage girls and was dedicated on Sunday, July 28, 1963 by Walter P. Kellenberg, Bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre.  According to the July 25, 1963 Long Islander, "The complex of buildings features six attractive apartments in which the girls will have individual rooms.  Each apartment will accommodate 14 girls.  Three split-level cottages will have groups of 12 girls whose program will reflect their greater readiness to return to their community."  The article goes on to explain, "the accredited junior and senior high school program ranges from grade 7 through 12.  Referrals for admission are through the Family Courts, Departments of Welfare and other child- placing agencies." 

Designed by the architecture firm of Clark & Warren of Poughkeepsie, the facility was designed to house 84 girls.  The aforementioned Long Islander article goes on to describe the facilities as consisting of: five academic classrooms, homemaking room, science room, arts and crafts room, home sewing room, trade sewing room, beauty culture room, business practice room, library, all-purpose room and cafeteria.  

The report in the Historian's Office discusses some of the changes the Sisters of the Good Shepherd made including the conversion of the Baruch ballroom into a chapel, "which contained a fireplace and a stone carving giving Madonna Heights its name.  The Madonna and Child sculpture was a gift from the city of Florence, Italy to Dr. Baruch and his first wife Rosemary.  It was given to the Sisters of the Good Shepherd by Baruch's son and daughter Robert and Marina as a memorial to their parents."  The mansion itself was used as a convent for 32 nuns.  The theater in the basement of the mansion, built by Herman Baruch, was, "used by the girls as a dressing room when they go swimming, for spontaneous theatricals, and for ping pong," according to Newsday.

Today the incorporates 56 acres of what was Herman Baruch's estate and is today part of the SCO Family of Services.  According to their website, the "Madonna Heights campus offers a structured, therapeutic setting for adolescent girls and young women facing a variety of behavioral, social or mental challenges."

The rest of the estate, sold off the Brooklyn Diocese in 1955, slowly became developed.  "Bagatelle Estates" was the name of the biggest subdivision, and the map for the development, filed on October 30, 1967 shows that St. Philomena's Training School owned the adjacent land. 

This division created Sorrel Hill Court and 12 plots of slightly more than an acre along it.  The subdivision map for Section Two of Bagatelle Hills was filed on November 28, 1967 and creates Pettit Drive and 35 plots around it and Bagatelle Road.  An addition filing done on the same day shows the creation of Pettit Court and 15 plots there.  A final subdivision map filed on October 16, 1972 shows the creation of Dooley Court and four plots there.

So, finally we are at the conclusion of the Herman Baruch and Bagatelle story.  I hope that you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed reseraching it.  Perhaps some of you even live on land once owned by Herman Baruch and never knew it!