The Jesuit-run St. Ignatius Retreat House in Manhasset, which had been the home of Roaring 20s-era industrialist Nicholas Brady and his wife Genevieve, closed its doors Sunday after celebrating its final mass that evening, according to reports.
Newsday reported close to 500 people were in attendance for the final two masses, a crowd so large it could not fit into the main chapel.
Officials from the Jesuit order, which has maintained the property since the late 1930s, told Newsday the house is expected to be sold at the end of July, but declined to identify the buyer or proposed sale price.
The 87-room, 37-chimney property, named “Inisfada” after the gaelic word for “Long Island,” was seeking offers of $49 million.
Brady made his fortune overseeing the utility empire built by his father, Anthony, and built Inisfada as a 10th wedding anniversary gift to Genevieve in 1916, Deacon Tom Evrard told Blank Slate Media last month.
“[Genevieve] was really the motor behind the decorating of the house,” Evrard said. “She was very meticulous. She demanded everything be of the highest grade and quality.”
Completed in 1920, Inisfada cost $2.3 million to build and served as the Bradys’ summer home. They had residences on 5th Avenue in Manhattan as well as a villa in Rome.
Since the couple had no children, Evrard said, the Bradys lived at Inisfada with those they employed on the property.
Because the Bradys were devout Catholics, Evrard said, the couple maintained a close relationship as a result of their home in Italy.
The couple received permission from the Vatican to place the St. Genevieve Chapel on the second floor of their home, now perceived to be the “crown jewel” of the property, Evrard said.
In 1936, Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli – who would go on to become Pope Pius XII – stayed at Inisfada for three months while on tour in the United States and celebrated mass in the chapel. A portrait of his likeness hangs in the mansion’s first-floor hallway.
Newsday reported Friday the chapel will be donated to Fordham University.
Following her death in 1938, Genevieve Brady left Inisfada to the Jesuit order and in the years since, the house has been turned over into a seminary and retreat house for regional parishes and addiction rehabilitation groups.
Over time, the Jesuits sold off much of the 300 acre property for development, and Evrard said about 33 acres remains, including a walking tour of the stations of the cross as well as a walking meditative tour called “The Road to Emmaus,” based on the Bible passage that ends the Gospel of Luke. But after the New York Province of the Society of Jesus completed a five-year cost projection study on Inisfada, Evrard said the property became too expensive for the Jesuit order to retain.
“The place runs an $80,000 [per year] oil bill for heating and $90,000 in liability insurance,” Evrard said. “It became too much to maintain.”
According to a recent News 12 report about the state of the property’s sale, prospective buyers have come from all over the world to scout the mansion as a personal home or as the possible site of another organization.
“The province hired a real estate broker who would call us when a client would want to see the house,” Evrard said. “We didn’t know much – we still don’t really know much – but when they started asking to do health tests and asking questions about the foundation, we pretty much knew what was up.”
Father Damian Halligan told News 12 he wants Inisfada’s next owner to care for the property as much as St. Ignatius has over the years.
“It’s been even more than a home, you know? It’s really a treasure,” he said.
According to Newsday, supporters of the house said they are trying to convince the Jesuits to call off the sale, but the order says it intends to follow through with the sale.
