It is with great sadness that Inisfada is in the process of demolition. I never thought it would come to this. I received notification almost two years ago about the closing of the building and many, many groups, historic organizations and articles in the print and online media brought attention to it's endangerment. I was fortunate enough to have seen the house a few times in past years and once had a basement to attic tour. I have been in many mansions over the years and while all are different and beautiful in their own way, Inisfada was truly unique and a national treasure, worthy of the status of Biltmore, Hearst Castle and many of the Newport houses. When I attended school at the New York Institute of Technology in the 1970s, I would often drive all over the Gold Coast and search for the mansions that still existed. Today so many of those that were left even at that late date, are now gone. Fortunately Inisfada was a well documented house that appeared in books and magazines and I have many photos of the house in it's heyday. It really is a shame that such a house could not have been saved for the public to enjoy or have been preserved for future generations. Ada Louise Huxtable said of the demolition of Penn Station which also applies here, "We will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed". Please visit my blog, Mansions of the Gilded Age to see numerous vintage photos of the house and it's magnificent interiors. http://garylawrance.blogspot.com/2010/10/estate-of-nicholas-brady-inisfada.html
