The Woolworth Estate
April 21st, 2015 | Films
“I knew it was important that the film be shot in a grand interior space-- so much of the collection was inspired by interior architectural elements. Giovanna aims to make clothing good enough to eat; I wanted the film to be a sensorial experience: candy coated interiors, breathing walls, some magic, mystery and dancing of course.”
- Co-Founder & Director, Rachel Fleit
The Woolworth Estate is an enigma — a grandiose manor built of marble and mystery, whose aura defies modernity. Only a location with as much charm, history and mystique as the Woolworth Estate could have been fitting for Honor’s Spring 2015 film.
Designed in 1916 by C.P.H. Gilbert for business mogul, Frank Winfield Woolworth, the manor has faced many traumas. This nine million dollar property was commissioned after Woolworth’s home mysteriously burnt to the ground. Legend has it that, on the evening that Woolsworth’s middle daughter, Edna, committed suicide, a lighting bolt caused a crack in their family portrait hanging over the mantle, tearing the canvas directly over her face. Visitors to the estate have since reported sightings of a ghostly figure walking the grounds and the sounds of a girl crying.
While doing a tech scout for the Spring film, our team was met with their own peculiar and ghostly experience. Sounds of organ music could be heard in the distance, but there was no organist in sight. The eeriness of the estate and its tragic history continue to develop. In January, shortly after filming had wrapped, one of the wings we had shot in was greatly burned in a fire.
“We may have been the last to capture the opulence of the estate for a long while!”
It was a distinct pleasure for Honor to experience the Woolworth Estate’s unearthly presence, especially a part of it that is now gone forever, and to contribute to it’s ever evolving history.