The land on which The Admiralty is located was once part of the estate of Henry B. Hyde, founder of the Equitable Life Assurance Society. His home, “The Oaks”, was built in 1875 on a 400-acre tract of land bounded on the north by the Long Island Railroad and on the south by the Great South Bay. The Hyde family transformed The Oaks from a stately country home to a private casino and country club where they entertained friends who arrived at the estate by private railroad car to the private siding of the Long Island Railroad.
In 1905, The Hydes moved to France and sold the 40-room mansion and grounds to Louis Bossert. The vast estate was then sold off in parcels. In 1924, Southward Ho Land Corp purchased the portion of the estate that lay north of South Country Road (now NYS 27-A). The Hyde-Bossert house with its forty rooms was transformed into a country club with an 18-hole golf course, tennis courts, swimming pool and bridle path. The remaining portion of the estate that lay to the south was purchased by Landon Ketchum Thorne and would eventually become the Thorne Estate, to be named Thorneham.
Landon Ketchum Thorne married Julia Atterbury Loomis in 1911 after graduating from Yale University. Julia’s brother Alfred Loomis, also a Yale graduate, was considered a mathematical genius. The two formed a successful business relationship in the 1920’s focusing on financing the expansion of electric utilities throughout the United States. In the early 1920’s, they acquired ownership of the investment banking house, Bonbright & Co. In 1928, Loomis forecasted the impending stock market crash and they liquidated their stock holdings before the 1929 Crash. Alfred Loomis is the subject of the PBS documentary “The Secret of Tuxedo Park” as well as a biography written by Jennet Conant, which tell the story of an eccentric Wall Street tycoon and the circle of scientific geniuses he assembled before World War II to develop the science for radar and the atomic bomb.
In 1925, the Thornes began planning a grand country manor house in Bay Shore on the 230-acre property they had acquired south of Montauk Highway and extending to the Great South Bay. This property was in its natural state, comprised of barren farmland, wooden uplands bisected by a stream and an approximate 2,000-foot canal.
In addition to the manor house built in 1928, a “Playhouse” was constructed as well. The “playhouse” included an indoor swimming pool, indoor tennis court, and a squash court. There were stables for horses, a five-car garage, a captain’s cottage, a boathouse and a watchman’s cottage near the front gate. A second home, known as the "Winter House" was added to the property in 1941 for Thorne’s son.
In 1958, the Thornes donated the “Playhouse” to St. Peter’s Episcopal Church of Bay Shore (now called St. Peter’s By-the-Sea Episcopal Church). The tennis court was transformed into a church nave and the swimming pool was covered over and became a side chapel. After the deaths of Landon (1964) and Julia (1974) Thorne, the estate made additional land donations to the Bay Shore Yacht Club and the Nature Conservancy. The rest of the property was sold to the Jerry Kramer Company of Sayville, who developed The Admiralty as we know it today.
