Until after World War II, Esperanza was only a summer home; although, there is evidence that suggests that the farm cottage was being lived in year round as early as 1905 by Carlotta.  This leads to the obvious question…’what about the other six months?’

While Julie was alive, the winter home was Hartford.  However, from the earliest period the situation was somewhat more complex and speaking of a winter home is somewhat incorrect.  Julie lived in Hartford, but Morris was generally in New Orleans, while her daughters were spread out from upstate New York, to New York City, to New Orleans.  Right from the beginning then, Esperanza functioned as a gathering spot for a far flung family.

After Julie’s death the focus, now based on WWE and Helen in the next generation, shifted to New York City and, by the late 1890’s, to Yonkers.  Yonkers, or NYC’s environs, would remain the winter focus until the house became a year round place.  The NYC focus had a longer tradition for Julie and Morris had first met in New York.

Oddly, due to generational/cultural/social shifts no doubt, about the time the house became a year round place, the summer-time ‘gathering of the clan’ so to speak began to reduce.  A social/cultural shift, the white-collar professional/middle class ceased to take long multi-generational vacations, shorter vacations focused on the immediate nuclear family became more typical.