Hither went Yon

[Jim_Kennedy]

The original plan for Montauk was envisioned by  Carl Fisher. He planned an 18-hole golf course, (Montauk Downs) and to make Montauk the "Miami Beach of the North", but he went belly-up and the Montauk Beach Development Corporation were the next owners of the property in 1926?. They, too, lost it all in the coming depression, but there were plans for a second hotel, golf course, etc.

This is the brochure for the second hotel:
Cover:

Inside:


And the golf course they planned was to be known as Hither Hills GC.
An article about the course:


This photo is from 1938, a mere 10 years after it was built. Looks like it too was a casualty of the depression. The hole corridors are still visible in a historicaerials.com photo from 1954 , but a smattering of houses had been built on them by 1960. Nothing resembling a golf course remains past 1969.
I had no luck in divining the architect of Hither Hills, but perhaps they used Captain H.C. Tippett, the man who built the Montauk Downs GC in 1927.


Here's a 1938 aerial of Montauk Downs (built in 1927), and it seems to be in running condition, unlike HH.

[RJ_Daley]

Jim, regarding the HH flickerphoto, 'La foto non e attualmente disponibile'.  Sheeza no work!  Can you check the img code?

The others work fine, and thanks for that.  Interesting era and makes you wonder....

[Jim_Kennedy]

All  fixed.    

If you plug "montauk beach development company" into a google search the first 8 sites will give you most the info you'd want to know about the developer and the ongoing developments.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Montauk GC is top-right and Hither Hills was bottom-left is this google map shot:
 

[Mark Bourgeois]

Jim,

Great stuff. The original Montauk was Tippet, then RTJ came along and built a palimsest. Tippet and Fisher alike were fascinating, Gatsby-type characters; Fisher hired him in Florida, too. (Except Fisher was played as a patsy. Hmm Gatsby indeed.)

I think www.golfcoursehistories.com uses a 1930 aerials to compare to the RTJ course.

[Jim_Kennedy]

I looked for it Mark, but it doesn't seem to be there.

[Mark Bourgeois]

Jim, sometimes I think those guys over at GCH would lose their heads if they weren't attached. Anyway, they fixed the link and here it is:

http://www.golfcoursehistories.com/Montauk.html

The historic aerial dates to 1930.

[Mark Saltzman]

What is the architectural history of Montauk Downs?  Based on the GCH.com comparo it looks like nothing remains from the original course.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Mark S.,

Good online resources for the area/course/etc., can be found by plugging "montauk beach development company" into a google search.

RTJ SR re-did the course in 1968, it was eventually sold to NYS in 1980, and Rees Jones freshened up his father's work and built a couple of new holes in 2002.

That's all I know. 

[Scott Sander]

Daniel Wexler's "The Missing Links" has an intriguing explanation of the rise and demise of the original Montauk Downs.

Carl Fisher left his mark in some diverse locales.   I'm sitting about two miles from his gravesite here in Indianapolis. 
He is rememberd (and exhalted) here for spearheading the construction of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.