Col. Oliver Hazard Payne Estate

Col. Oliver Hazard Payne Estate is a historic 60-acre estate, also known as Omega and Wiltwick, located on the west bank of the Hudson River at Esopus in Ulster County, New York, United States. The estate features a 42,000-square-foot Beaux Arts-style Mediterranean palazzo with an open courtyard. It was designed in 1905 for Col. Oliver Hazard Payne by the architect Thomas Hastings of the renowned firm of Carrère and Hastings, who also designed the New York Public Library and the Henry Clay Frick House. The estate is currently owned by Marist College and operated as the Raymond A. Rich Institute for Leadership Development.
Col. Oliver Hazard Payne began construction on the mansion in 1909, and it was finished in 1911. The mansion was built on the same site as "Waldorf," John Jacob Astor III’s somewhat less grand Renaissance-style residence that was razed. Payne had served as a colonel in the American Civil War, during which time he was grievously wounded. He later became involved in oil refining and founded the company Clark, Payne & Co., which was purchased by John D. Rockefeller in 1872, at which point Payne became the treasurer of Standard Oil and one of the wealthiest men in America.

More information

Comments Statistics

| | Public