There’s a distribution system that sends water to 120 points across the property—“the homes, the water troughs for horses, the stables, the polo facilities … it’s an incredible engineering feat,” Brennan explains. Should water levels run low, an electrical system sets off pumps in wells at ground level, sending water up to the cistern.
When the couple divorced, Mary Elizabeth Whitney kept the estate and lived there until her death in 1988.
By that point, Brennan says, “the main house was in serious disrepair.”
Restoration
Roy Ash, a California businessman who served in the Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford administrations in Washington, bought the land and set about restoring it, filling it with 19th century antiques, updating the electricity and plumbing, and modernizing it into a livable, modern residence.
“That work continued right up until 2006,” Brennan says.
When Brennan, who was also the onetime chairman of crystal and fine china maker Waterford Wedgwood PLC, came to see the place, he had a farm about 10 miles away. His wife and daughter were already very involved in equestrian pursuits, including breeding and polo, and the property offered an opportunity he says was too good to pass up.
After buying the house, Brennan added three polo fields for a total of four, a polo arena, and more support structures. He also brought the main house’s restoration over the proverbial finish line, updating its paint, kitchen, and interiors. He stuccoed the entire house again (“like re-stuccoing a mountain,” he says), and updated all of the property’s guest houses from the Whitney era. All told, Brennan estimates that his family spent about $10 million on updates.
Today, he says, the house is in perfect condition.
The Manor House
The manor house measures roughly 12,500 square feet, with 24 rooms, 17 fireplaces, nine bedrooms, and eight full baths. There are now seven tenant houses and four buildings with apartments—and 17 bedrooms in total—plus four polo fields, one arena, eight ponds, six miles of interior roads, and stables that can serve nearly 100 horses on the property.
To run this massive estate, a permanent staff of seven maintains the houses, gardens, and facilities; the polo staff, Brennan says, is separate.