Polhemus & Coffin

Who is Polhemus & Coffin?

Henry M. Polhemus and Lewis Augustus Coffin, Jr formed the New York-based architectural firm of Polhemus & Coffin. Together they contributed to a joint publication, Small French Buildings: The Architecture of Town and Country, with 183 plates of sketches, illustrations and photos, published by Charles Scribner & Sons in 1921. Their modest French country manor "Mille Fleurs" designed for Mrs Daniel Guggenheim on the extensive Gould-Guggenheim estate in Port Washington, New York, on the Gold Coast of Long Island, was completed in 1932; it is modeled on the vineyard Château Beauregard, Pommerol. In Newport, Rhode Island, they designed "Champ Soleil", on Bellevue Avenue, a small 22-room French manor that was completed in 1929. A lively debate currently underway on the internet, questions the inspiration for the design and whether or not Champ Soleil was modeled on the famous French Norman chateau named "La Lanterne." a residence near Versailles. Designed for Lucy Drexel Dalgren in 1929, at one time Champ Soleil was the residence of Russell Aitken, artist, big game hunter, Associate Editor of Field & Stream Magazine and step-father of Sunny von Bülow. In 2006, Acanthus Press published a book authored by James Archer Abbott, Jansen - 20th Century Decorators, by James Archer Abbott, which features a chapter about the 1950s update of Champ Soleil, and contains a few detailed renderings and interior photos, detailing work done by famed French decorating firm Maison Jansen.