John Shaffer Phipps
| John Shaffer Phipps | |
|---|---|
 Phipps circa 1915 | |
| Born |
August 11, 1874 Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Died |
April 27, 1958 (aged 83) Palm Beach, Florida, United States |
| Residence |
1 Sutton Place South, New York City, Old Westbury, New York, Palm Beach, Florida |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Yale University |
| Occupation | Financier, lawyer, polo player, real estate developer |
| Board member of | Hanover Bank, U.S. Steel Corp., W. R. Grace & Co. |
| Spouse(s) | Margarita Celia Grace |
| Children |
John H. H. Phipps Michael Grace Phipps Hubert Beaumont Phipps Margaret Phipps Boegner |
| Parent(s) |
Henry Phipps Anne Childs Shaffer |
John Shaffer Phipps (August 11, 1874 – May 12, 1958) was an American lawyer and businessman who was an heir to the Phipps family fortune and a shareholder of his father-in-law's Grace Shipping Lines. He was a director of the Hanover Bank, U.S. Steel Corp. and W. R. Grace & Co.
Biography
Known as "Jay", he was born on August 11, 1874 in Allegheny, Pennsylvania to Henry Phipps and Anne Childs Shaffer.
On November 4, 1903 he married Margarita Celia Grace at Battle Abbey in Battle, East Sussex, England.[1] She was the daughter of Michael P. Grace and niece of William Russell Grace, Irish immigrants who became very successful in business. John and Margarita had four children. They were: John Henry Phipps, Michael Grace Phipps, Hubert Beaumont Phipps, and Margaret Phipps Boegner, who married J. Gordon Douglas, Jr.[2]
John Phipps amassed almost 2,500 acres (10 km2) of rolling Virginia farm lands in The Plains, Virginia including Brenton, an 1889 stone manor house. He was a polo player and Thoroughbred racehorse owner, and the property assembled from 1928 onwards would be the site of his Rockburn Stud farm. Upon his death it passed to his son Hubert.
Phipps purchased an old 160-acre (0.65 km2) Quaker farm on Long Island where he built a large mansion with magnificent gardens that, following his death, became a non-profit organization that today is known as Westbury House & Gardens and is open to the public. In the 1920s he purchased several large properties in West Palm Beach, Florida including one that was once used as a pineapple plantation. He subdivided the property and turned it into the three largest subdivisions containing luxury residential homes in what is now the El Cid Historic District. John Phipps built a home for himself he called "Casa Bendita." A large oceanfront mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, it was designed in 1921 by architect Addison Mizner. Today, the property is occupied by his granddaughter, Susan Phipps Cochran, and her husband.
He died on April 27, 1958 in Palm Beach, Florida.[3]
Further reading
- Article on "Casa Bendita" with photo collection at the New York Social Diary
- Photos of Westbury House & Gardens
- Halcyon Days: An American Family Through Three Generations by Peggie Phipps Boegner (daughter of John Shaffer Phipps), Richard Gachot (1987) Harry N. Abrams, Inc. ISBN 0-8109-1064-0
- "Brenton", The Plains, Virginia
References
- ↑ "Phipps--Grace.; Mendels--Wright. Hirsch-Dittenhoefer. Wright--Finck". The New York Times. November 5, 1903.
- ↑ "Miss Peggie Phipps Engaged To Marry. Her Betrothal To J. Gordon Douglas Jr. Is Announced By Her Parents. Members Of Old Families. She Is A Granddaughter Of The Late M. P. Grace and Of Henry Phipps, Carnegie's Partner.". New York Times. August 28, 1930. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
Mr. and Mrs. John S. Phipps of this city, Palm Beach, Fla., and Westbury House, Westbury, L.I., have announced the engagement of their only daughter, Miss Peggie Phipps, to J. Gordon Douglas Jr., son of J. Gordon Douglas of this city and Mrs. Grafton Winthrop Minot of New York and Newport, R.I.
- ↑ "Died". Time magazine. May 12, 1958. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
John Shaffer Phipps, 83, financier, lawyer, polo player and father of polo players, lavish traveler (he once hired a private, nine-car train—three for ponies, three for people, three for baggage—for a trip to Florida, also took more than 100 trunks on a European voyage), owner of race horses (Parnassus, Level Lea); in Palm Beach, Fla. Son of Andrew Carnegie's partner Henry Phipps, and uncle of Pologician Winston Guest, John Phipps was a director of U.S. Steel Corp., W. R. Grace & Co., the Hanover Bank.