The Huntington Town House catering hall, which was demolished the week of July 4, 2011, originated as roadside restaurant in 1937 and over the years grew to one of the largest catering facilities in the country.
The story of the Town House begins with Leo Gerard. Leo’s father, William B. Gerard, operated three luxury hotels in Cold Spring Harbor in the late nineteenth century. Leo continued the family’s success in the hospitality industry.
Leo was born in 1892 and served in the army during World War I. In 1922 he married and began his own career in the restaurant business with the Gerard Inn on Park Avenue in Huntington. In 1927 he was named steward of the Huntington Yacht Club, where among other things he was in charge of the dining room. Starting in 1930, he would spend his winters operating the Hunter Arms Hotel in St. Cloud, Florida.
In 1932, he leased a restaurant overlooking the water in Cold Spring Harbor under the name The Oyster Bar. It was later also known as Ye Olde Tavern Inn, but mostly was referred to as Leo Gerard’s. In 1933, he also resumed his duties as steward at the yacht club. Two years later he expanded his Cold Spring Harbor restaurant, but he still had to turn patrons away.
That same year, Alfred Bruns, the founder of the Liberty Can and Sign Co. of Brooklyn died. Bruns had a large house on a wooded five acre estate on the south side of Jericho Turnpike, just east of the Huntington-Amityville Road (Route 110). The house boasted an immense dining room that could seat over 100 people, as well as a large number of bedrooms. Gerard purchased the estate in March 1937 and began making plans to relocate his restaurant to this larger building.
Leo Gerard’s new restaurant opened just three months later. The Long-Islander predicted that “in view of Leo Gerard’s fine reputation, business in his new place will no doubt grow very fast.” That prediction turned out to be correct. Within a year, two additions were built and a third was being constructed.
In 1957, Gerard, now 65 years old, sold the restaurant to Thomas Manno, a New York caterer. Manno converted the restaurant to strictly a catering facility for private parties—one of the first such establishments on Long Island—and named it the Huntington Town House. Manno planned to refurbish the building (including the installation of air conditioning) and re-landscape the grounds. By the end of the year, the Town House was advertising the picturesque country club atmosphere as the perfect place for wedding receptions. Manno attracted clients from Brooklyn in the west to Riverhead in the east and hoped to cash in on the surge in weddings by war babies.
The Town House featured three ballrooms, each with its own kitchen and bandstand. Dressing rooms for bides were located on the second floor and there was no bar, which reportedly pleased church groups looking to hold events there. Within a couple of years, the Town House was hosting between 12 to 22 banquets a week and was being expanded with the addition of two new rooms that would increase the seating capacity from 900 to 1500 persons. By 1972, the Town House had expanded to 11 rooms; and by 2000 it boasted 100,000 square feet of banquet space, 48,000 square feet for offices, kitchens and other support functions and parking for 2000 cars on a 20 acre site.
Rhona Silver purchased the Town House in 1997 from Thomas Manno’s estate for $7.6 million. Silver hoped to transform the catering facility into a conference center with a 244 room hotel and 58,000 square feet of space dedicated to conferences. Those plans were never realized. Instead, in 2007 Silver sold the property to Lowe’s Corporation, which is in the process of constructing one of its home improvement stores on the site.
OMG—I can’t believe it’s gone. My HS had our Senior Prom there, 1976. Three of my best friends got married there. I’m in tears, so many memories….
I was the “house singer” there from 1977 to around 1984 – used to go from room to room and sing just a couple of songs at each party ~ have many memories of many different functions but of course mostly Weddings. It’s sad to think that it’s just gone and will now become Lowe’s.
OMG, I worked there and still remember you!
I played in a wedding band called Quintessence that performed frequently at the Hunting Townhouse from around 1982-1988. Those years were the happiest of my life and the Hunting Townhouse was part of that. So many wonderful memories. It was a very special time and I am thankful to have lived it.
UPDATE: Lowe’s decided not to build on the site. Instead it is now a Target store.
The Huntington Town House was the butt of so many jokes. The food sucked. Too much pasta because it is hard to ruin and it can be served hot on a buffet line. I went there for Cub Scout functions, school functions and political functions. I can believe how many parents were taken by over the hurdles having their daughters wedding receptions at this wedding factory. This venue used to have 14 wedding every Saturday and Sunday. The would take the bridal parties in a certain order to get their photos taken with the chandeliers as the backdrop.
It was wonderful. Worked in the banquet office 1984…..1994.
I worked there from 1979-1984. I also got married there in 1990. Left many friends and mentors behind. So long to another historical location.
My Aunt Ruth (Ruth Austin) was a Banquet Manager at the Townhouse for many years. My first wedding reception was in the newly renovated Garden Patio rooms, back in June 1978. They did a Deluxe Viennese table like nobody else!
I worked at the Townhouse as an 18 year old kid. This was back in 1965. I have wonderful memories of all the great people that worked there. We were like one big family. It was hard work but we had a blast. At the time, I was the youngest employee. Everyone there watched over me. I will never ever forget Vinnie Ferrara. I would alway get into trouble but Vinnie came to my rescue many, many times. No one there new my name. Everyone there called me by my nickname which was STRETCH. ( I was 6’7″ tall at 18) It was my was first job out of high school. I looked forward to the days I had to work. I worked 2 functions on Saturday and 2 functions on Sunday and many times on Friday evening when the Townhouse hosted fashion shows and high school proms. One of the greatest thrills of my life came about when I was asked to bring beverages into the dressing room of the Young Rascals. I was in awe. Without fail me and my sidekick John Sheringham would come to work on Sunday morning hung over from the night before. I have tried to locate John over the years but have had no luck. I started working there as an introvered, clumsy stringbean. I emerged 4 years later as a man. I credit the Townhouse for giving me confidence, agility, and the nack of talking to people. I am 69 years old but the memories of that place still burn within me. Many times when look back on those great, great years there, it seems like yesterday. I have so, so many memories that I carry with me. They will always be there until my time on this earth comes to an end.
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My husband and I got married in Oct of 1964 and we had our wedding reception there. It was like a fairy tale, everything was perfect. This year of 2017 we will be married 53 years and people still talk about how perfect everything was for our wedding at the Huntington Town House. Thanks for the memories..so sorry it was torn down and now there is a Target store there. Things change BUT not always for the better. SAD…..
Everyone knew the Town House, whether they attended a function there or not. It was a landmark. My memory is of the Walt Whitman High School 1961 Senior Banquet, at which the Staff and Teachers had to entertain the Senior students with the most ridiculous costumes and skits. It was great fun. Unfortunately, we seem to have lost those days of innocent joy and merriment. Gone too is the Town House itself. Sad.