Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005, the magnificent building that retail magnate Benjamin Stern (1858-1933) once called home sits on a bluff overlooking Hempstead Harbor in Roslyn Harbor, much as it has for more than a century.
It is said that when Thomas Clapham (1839-1915) sailed into the harbor aboard his sloop Qui Vive, he was so enchanted by the spot that he immediately decided to purchase the property and build a home. In 1872, he completed an Italianate villa designed by noted architect Jacob Wrey Mould (1825-1886) in the High Gothic Victorian style. Constructed largely of granite, the home became known as Stone House and was the centerpiece of an 18-acre estate. For many years, Clapham operated a trout hatchery on Motts Cove and a boatyard in Glenwood Landing on the site of the present-day Swan Club.
Three other key owners left significant marks on the property.
Beginning in 1906, Benjamin and Madeline Stern, of the Stern Brothers department stores, remodeled the villa in the French Chateauesque style, renamed the estate Claraben, expanded the property to 23 acres, developed a working farm, and in 1931 helped incorporate the Village of Roslyn Harbor.
In 1943, Wendell Hughes, an eye surgeon, and his wife Louise bought the property and called it Wenlo. In 1960, a devastating fire engulfed much of the home. Three years later, the Hughes began a restoration based on Mould’s original design.
In 2002, the current owners began to restore the much-eroded historical integrity of the building and grounds. Thanks to this effort, the Clapham-Stern house survives, the only example of Jacob Wrey Mould’s work on Long Island and a reminder of the people, places, and events that shaped history on the eastern shore of Hempstead Harbor.