Name: Astor Courts, also known as Ferncliff Casino or Astor Casino
Constructed: 1902-1904
Architects: Stanford White, McKim Mead & White
Renovation: Samuel G. White (great-grandson of Stanford White), Platt Byard Dovell White Architects LLP
Location: Rhinebeck, NY
About Astor Courts
At the turn of the twentieth century, wealthy homeowners often erected small recreation houses on the grounds of their estates. These sporting pavilions were called
casinos after the Italian word
cascina, or little house, but were sometimes quite large. John Jacob Astor IV and his wife, Ava, commissioned noted architect
Stanford White to design an elaborate
Beaux Arts style casino for their Ferncliff Estate in Rhinebeck, New York. With an expansive columned terrace, the Fencliff Casino, Astor Courts, is often compared to Louis XIV’s
Grand Trianon at Versailles.
Stretching across a hillside with sweeping views of the Hudson River, Astor Courts featured state-of-the art facilities:
- Indoor swimming pool with a vaulted ceiling
- Indoor tennis court beneath steel Gothic arches
- Outdoor tennis court (now a lawn)
- Two squash courts (now a library)
- Bowling alley on the lower level
- Shooting range on the lower level
- Guest bedrooms
John Jacob Astor IV did not enjoy Astor Courts for long. He divorced his wife Ava in 1909 and married the younger Madeleine Talmadge Force in 1911. Returning from their honeymoon, he died on the sinking Titanic.
Astor Courts passed through a succession of owners. During the 1960s the Catholic Diocese operated a nursing home at Astor Courts. In 2008, owners Kathleen Hammer and Arthur Seelbinder worked with Samuel G. White, great-grandson of the original architect, to restore the casino's original floor plan and decorative details.
Chelsea Clinton, daughter of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former USA president Bill Clinton, selected Astor Courts as the site of her July 2010 wedding.
Astor Courts is privately owned and not open for tours.
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