{"nrhp_refnum":"79001595","name":"Dodge, Lillian Sefton, Estate","other_names":["Sefton Manor","Mill Neck Manor Lutheran School for the Deaf"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Frost Mill Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Mill Neck","county":"Nassau County","state":"NY","lat":40.87803204700003,"lon":-73.55847398337923,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-07-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A former Gold Coast estate known as Sefton Manor on an 86-acre property on Frost Mill Road in Mill Neck, Nassau County, New York. Its Tudor Revival main house was designed in 1923 and the estate now houses a school for the deaf.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as one of the best preserved Long Island Gold Coast estates and an excellent example of sensitive adaptive reuse as a school. The main house was designed by the New York firm Clinton and Russell, with landscape design by Charles Leavitt. It is also associated with Lillian Sefton Dodge, a cosmetics company president who was considered the highest paid woman executive in the United States in 1938.","narrative":"Sefton Manor, the former Lillian Sefton Dodge estate in Mill Neck, is an 86-acre Long Island Gold Coast property now used as a school for the deaf. Its centerpiece is a Tudor Revival manor house designed in 1923 by the New York firm Clinton and Russell, built with a steel frame and faced in brown Westchester granite with limestone trim. Inside, the Great Hall retains oak paneling, a carved stone chimneypiece and stained glass by Charles Connick of Boston. A formal garden by Charles Leavitt, a half-timbered farm complex, a greenhouse and garages complete the grounds. Mrs. Dodge led the cosmetics firm Harriet Hubbard Ayer, Inc., and was regarded in 1938 as the highest paid woman executive in the country. The estate has had only two owners, the Dodge family and, since 1949, the Lutheran Friends of the Deaf. Additions from 1967 and 1971 were designed to suit the setting. It was listed as a well-preserved estate and a model of sympathetic adaptive reuse.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":"Clinton & Russell","architectural_style":"Tudor Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in use as the Mill Neck Manor Lutheran School for the Deaf, which has owned it since 1949; the main house and farm complex have been adapted for school use.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:38.933164-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/79001595.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001595/93a4076e52-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001595/93a4076e52-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Muncharelli","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lillian_Sefton_Dodge_Estate_Main_House.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Muncharelli</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lillian_Sefton_Dodge_Estate_Main_House.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319087","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillian_Sefton_Dodge_Estate","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6548208"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/nassau-county/dodge-lillian-sefton-estate-79001595/"}