West Islip Estate Was Home of Effingham B. Sutton

On Monday we asked you to guess who owned majestic West Islip estate pictured above. According to Christopher Collora in his new book "Long Island Historic Houses of the South Shore" the palatial home was built around 1870 by Effingham B. Sutton, a shipping businessman and founder of the Sutton Line and Cromwell Steamship Line. The estate was named Effingham Park, according to the author.

The NYC Parks website has a biography on Effingham B. Sutton telling about how he made his fortune, including the fact that he was "one of the few prospectors who succeeded in building a fortune during the California Gold Rush of 1849." An obituary in the New York Times from May 1891 says that he made money on the rush not by striking gold but by running clipper ships between New York and San Francisco.

As well as building mansions on Long Island, Sutton was involved in New York City real estate and in 1875, it is said that he had brownstones built between 57th and 58th Streets to revitalize the community. The venture was said to have failed initially, years later the area was transformed, eventually becoming a series of neighborhoods and parks that bear his name. (Although a 2003 New York Times article calls the particulars of the origins of Sutton Place into question.)

But don't go looking for Sutton's Long Island estate now.

"In 1903 E.B. Sutton Jr. sold the mansion and property to Edwin Hawley, who demolished it," Collora wrote in his book.