FALL 2003

The ChronicleA Publication of

The Bronxville Historical Conservancy

Sarah Bates Lawrence

Bronxville, New York

Historical records don’t reveal if diamonds were one of Sarah Lawrence’s bestfriends. But she would probably sparkle at the thought of a diamond anniversaryof the college named in her honor. Sarah’s husband, William Van DuzerLawrence, at the spirited age of 82 decided that Bronxville needed a women’scollege. Sadly, Sarah passed away in May 1926, unable to greet its first studentsin 1928, who were part of an important experimental ideal that was transformedinto reality. As noted in the college handbook, “the history and character of theCollege are a reflection of its distinctive philosophy.” Part of that philosophy is tohelp each student attain a fully internalized, autonomous, and personally meaningful relationship to knowledge.

The Lawrences’ 12-acre estate, known as Westlands, became the College campus, their house its administrative building, and several more buildings havebeen added throughout its history. More information on the College’s 75th anniversary can be found at www.sarahlawrence.edu/75years

A jewel for 75 years

INSIDE

Meet the Conservancy’sNewest Board Members

Touring A Turn-of-the-Century

Treasure

Traveling throughWestchester’s Historical

Landscape

Bronxville Art Lost and Found!

Local History Room Records Today for Tomorrow

An adventurous trip toOh...lana!

A Special Thank You

Portals ofhistory andpassagesthroughtime.

The Bronxville Historical Conservancy has enjoyed a fall filled with inspiring looks into abeautifully preserved past. A boat trip down the Hudson to the Catskills took members tothe home of artist Frederic Church who created his “Olana” in the same way he planneda work of art: pencil sketches followed by finished color sketches. He chose and mixed onhis palette the colors of every room, and designed the exterior and interior stencils. Theinspiration came from a journey he and his wife made to the Middle East where the couple was captivated by the Moorish architecture, something they felt provided a senseof permanence, rich associations with the past, and splendid decorative possibilities.

Equally splendid in a far different way is the home of Roland and Karen Morris on RidgeRoad in Bronxville. In 1912 the Bronxville Review boasted of its beauty: “The Ridge propertyon Sagamore is rapidly filling up with well-built houses, perhaps the handsomest of which isthe residence of Mr. L. D. Garrett on Ridge Road, a long structure of Italian Renaissancetype which crowns the high ridge overlooking the valley to the east.” You can read moreabout both Historical Conservancy house tours inside this Fall issue of the Chronicle.

Enjoying a

Wright Elliott

n a sparkling afternoon in early November,Conservancy members strolled the rooms and terraces of the Italianate Sagamore Park villa at 21 Ridge Road. For decades this was the home of

one-time village president Leonard Kebler, nephew and heir ofprosperous inventor H. Ward Leonard, the guiding force in the

development of Sagamore Park. For decades more, Ralph and Calla Guild and their children enjoyed thecomfort of the house, and since 1998 it has been the home of the young family of Roland and Karen Morris.

Today not only has this early 20th century house been tastefully renovated and restored, it has also becomea repository for memorabilia of an American family notable since Colonial times. In 1683, Anthony Morris, aQuaker, and the first of thirteen succeeding Morris generations in America, emigrated from England and settled in Pennsylvania where he soon became a prominent citizen and friend of William Penn. Both he andhis eldest son were early mayors of Philadelphia. The Morris home here includes a number of family mementoes that have been thoughtfully integrated into the decoration of the house.

The rooms of the house, as one might expect from viewing the exterior, are wide and handsome and

John Hill Sheila SteinJoan DeCrane Randy Frost

Mary Thaler

BY CAROLYN MARTIN

O

Now on board....

A

Charles Jackson

t the annual meeting on November 10, Conservancy members elected two new directors to fillpositions formerly held by Anna Lee and Robert Macdonald, both of whom moved fromBronxville last year. The two new Board members each bring special talents to theConservancy that will be valuable assets for the organization as we continue popular programs

from the past and search for new areas where we can have an impact on making Bronxville historymore a part of every Villager's life.

Mary Thaler said she is delighted to join the Board because of her "interest in preserving the historic character of Bronxville, which is such an important part of our life here. I love antiques and oldquirky 'things' and have had a great time restoring our home" -- a lovely Sagamore Park residence thatMary, her husband Richard, and their three daughters Julia, Sarah and Hannah shared with

Conservancy members when it was featured as the annual house tour in 2000. Mary'sexperiences in the Conference Planning department at Institutional Investor Magazine, her

work in Public Relations at Oppenheimer and Co., and her leadership in organizing theCounseling Centers' community benefits indicate that she probably will play a major roll in future eventplanning for the Conservancy. Mary currently also serves on the Non-Partisan Committee and isco-chair of the Middle School TeenCenter.

Charles M. Jackson, his wife Ann, and their two sons, Sam and Nick, moved to Bronxville in 1985; theireighth-grade daughter Amy is a villager by birth. As a homeowner on the Hilltop, Charles couldn't helpbut become involved in Bronxville's history and preservation -- an interest he has expanded by serving

as treasurer of the Lawrence Park Hilltop Association's Board. Charles also keeps an eye onthe larger community's preservation and change by serving as a member of the BronxvilleZoning Board. When not involved in community endeavors or working as a partner at GoffCapital Partners, L.P., a private equity firm, Charles enjoys sports, travel and studying the lifeof Winston Churchill. He has volunteered to be part of the Conservancy's Art Committeeand research the history and current needs of Bronxville’s Betty Parker Cabin.

BY MARILYNN WOOD HILL

turn-of-the-century treasure.

Char Nau & Janie Elliott Karin & Gary Reetz Fran & Neil Craig

Don Gray presented the new slate ofboard members at the AnnualMembership Meeting.

Marilynn Wood Hill, co-chair of the Bronxville

Historical Conservancy, presidedover the 2003 Annual Meeting.

We should keep meeting like this!

include a reception room, double living room, and a high-ceilinged, paneled library – originally a ballroom –with grand Palladian windows. Most of these rooms open onto a broad terrace that overlooks the pool andgazebo secluded behind the new garage – new, but replicating the style of the original house.In a like manner, the renovation of the kitchen was accomplished with cabinetry and light-ing reminiscent of 1911, the year the house was built. The lower level, elegantly fin-ished in subtly-hued tile work evocative of an ancient Roman bath, includespool dressing rooms and a hidden wine cellar.

As twilight fell and the tour drew to a close, lamplight from the library’s tallwindows streamed onto the terrace to be met by the twinkle of glass-enclosed candles – an altogether picturesque scene that marked the end of a very pleasant visit.

Following the house tour, the members adjourned to the Bronxville FieldClub not only for cocktails, conversation and the traditional short businessmeeting, but also to meet and thank our gracious hosts of the afternoon.

Mary Jo Romeo & Nick Pappas

The Bronxville Historical Conservancy’s Annual Meeting at The Field Club

November 9, 2003

ore than 200 members of the Bronxville HistoricalConservancy attended the annual meetingheld this year at the Field Club following the

Morris House Tour.Co-chair Marilynn Wood Hill presided over the informal

meeting that included acceptance of this year’s boardof directors presented by Donald Gray, and theConservancy’s financial report, given by Treasurer HankCoon. Hank noted that 433 members are now contributing members of the Conservancy.

Village Historian and Conservancy Board MemberEloise Morgan acknowledged the work of Renee Byers,who, funded by the Conservancy, restored the wrought-iron lanterns at both entrances to Avon Road, originallyplaced there by the developers of Sagamore Park nearly one-hundred years ago.

M

Our hosts, Roland & Karen Morris

BY MARILYNN WOOD HILL

Absence makes the art grow fonder�

estchester County’s rich and varied history is nowheremore evident than in the 165 sites listed in the NationalRegister of Historic Places. “Picturing Our Past: National

Register Sites in Westchester County” by Gray Williams presents themall in a lavishly illustrated panorama of both the important and theordinary. Not surprisingly, a number of Bronxville homes are represented in this beautiful new book.

What distinguishes this 492-page cocktail table volume is the personal style of Mr. Williams’ text andthe outstanding beauty of its 275 newcolor photographs and historical illustrations. When the WestchesterCounty Historical Society embarked onthis project four years ago, librarianElizabeth G. Fuller knew the NationalRegister framework would be the logical choice for chronicling the 300years of Westchester’s history thatranges from the Van Cortlandt farm-house days to Sunnyside, Kyukuit andthe Draper Observatory. She also recognized that this book needed toinclude the Quaker graveyard scenes,churches, commercial sites, schoolbuildings and fine examples of civilengineering that have all achievedlandmark status. Homes that typifysuburban beauty are highlighted, withover 20 pages devoted to the residences and historically significantbuildings of Bronxville and its environs.

The result is a “must have” volume forall those who love and appreciateWestchester’s history. “Picturing OurPast” retails for $75 and is now available at area bookstores.

One of several Bronxville homes featured in “Picturing Our Past,” recently published by the

Westchester County Historical Society.

BY PATTY DOHRENWEND

BY JAYNE WARMAN

W

003 has been a busy year foracquiring art for the village. TheConservancy has so far purchased six works by local

artists that were created during the heyday of Bronxville's art colony, c. 1894-1937. They are to be displayed in public spaces -- at Village Hall or at the Library -- so that Bronxville's artistic legacy can be appreciated by many viewers.

Two of the paintings were executedby Sheldon Parsons while he lived inBronxville and represent a more traditional style than the one he adopted after settling in Santa Fe in 1913. Walter Clark'sspring landscape reflects the artist's enthusiasm for painting the local scenery, especially the woodlandsalong the Bronx River. A beautifully painted watercolor byWill Hicok Low epitomizes his mastery of allegorical

subjects. A charming scene of toy sailboats on the Bronxville pond was

painted by Will Low's wife, Mary FairchildLow, who presented it as a wedding giftto Fanny Ellsworth and Robert Scannell,a noted village architect, in 1925. And,

finally, a large and splashy still life ofpeonies by Spencer Baird Nichols,

departs from the landscape subjectsthat are a large part of the

Conservancy's growing collection.All of the paintings will be unveiled at

one of the Conservancy's spring eventsthat will also include a small loan

exhibition of works by Bronxville artists and aslide lecture featuring the newly acquired art

and their creators.If anyone knows of a work of art that might be of

interest to the Conservancy, please contact Jayne Warman, 961-6184.

2

Mary Fairchild Low’s“Children’s Regatta at Bronxville Lake”

gain, with the publication ofVolume 2, the Bronxville Journalhas received rave reviews. Inletters to the editor, Chris Eldridge

stated: "Congratulations on a splendidsecond volume of the Journal. I havedevoured every word with enormouspleasure. You and your staff have donea fabulous job. Thank you so very muchfor adding to my knowledge about ourvillage and giving me so much readingpleasure." Christina Staudt said: "Justwant to congratulate you on the secondbeautiful and very substantive journal forthe Conservancy. A great job!" FormerMayor Sheila Stein wrote: "I just got mycopy of the Journal. What a beautifuland scholarly publication. I am goingdown to Village Hall tomorrow to get afew more copies as gifts." Sarah andWilliam Van Duzer Lawrence's great,great granddaughter, who was invited towrite an article for this issue, respondedafter seeing the journal with: "I'm veryproud to be a part of such an academicand professional journal....It's a truly superior publication." Prof. C. LowellHarriss summarized with: "Vol. 2 of theJournal sets an even higher goal," andGail Ward, sending additional personalanecdotes about Jack Paar for authorNancy Vittorini's file, ended herreminiscences with: "The magazine is terrific and I loved it!!"

They’ve got us booked. BOTTOM LINE.

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The Way We Were

The Bronxville Train Station,except for the now-classic cars,looks just like it did in thisarchival postcard.

Where Botticelli exists today, our formerVillage Hall stood proudly, its stately

columns heralding the beginning of the20th century.

A tranquil Pondfield Road in thelate1940s is shown on the post-card to the right, a contrast to

Bronxville’s bustling main thoroughfare today.

BY ELOISE MORGAN

BY MARILYNN WOOD HILL

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wo photographers are donating their time and talents to record the Bronxville of today for use by historians in the future. Fielding Bowman, son of notedBronxville architect Lewis Bowman, and Alexandra Baio,Bronxville High School senior planning a career in art,have taken dozens of black and white photographs forthe Bronxville Local History Room's permanent archives. Afew of their images are shown here, juxtaposed with thesame scenes as they appeared decades ago. TheConservancy has underwritten the lab costs of a portionof the prints.

Editor’s Note:

he old adage "if you want a job done, ask a busy person," certainly typifies SarahUnderhill, a volunteer member of the Editorial Board of the Conservancy's Journal.

Correcting and polishing a manuscript are familiar tasks for Sarah who is a professional in the field of editing. After earning a degree at Williams College in English, sheworked in production and design for St. Martin's Press, Viking Penguin, and Ballantine Books atRandom House, and then returned to school to get a master's degree in Art History atNorthwestern. Following graduate school, Sarah became an editor at the Art Institute ofChicago for several years before freelancing as an architectural historian, writer and editor,and curator in the Chicago area. Among her many projects and assignments were editingand publishing monographs, serving as an editor and writer at Inland Architect magazine,and working as a consultant to Children's Press on a series of children's books entitled Getting

to Know the World's Greatest Artists. Today she still works as a freelance editor in art and architecture forRizzoli Publishers, an association she began in 1989 before moving abroad and having a family.

Bronxville topics have a special interest for Sarah who grew up in the community and graduated fromBronxville High School. In addition to her own history here, she "married into" Bronxville's history in 1988 whenshe wed Bob Underhill, who is descended from both William Van Duzer Lawrence and the much earlierUnderhill family. They have two children, Molly and Sam.

Sarah now oversees as an adult some of the organizations and activities she once participated in as ayoungster at the Reformed Church and the Bronxville School, where she is currently in her second year aschairman of the Foundation Board. She also has found time to be chair or a member of over half a dozenother boards, councils, and committees in the community, including, of course, her valuable contribution as amember of the Editorial Board of the Bronxville Journal. Thank you, Sarah!

Sarah Underhill

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of the blue mountainsis as fresh and vivid tome as the day I lastsaw them," wrote 20-year-old FredericChurch to ThomasCole, his former artteacher, about theCatskill Mountaintops. Fourteen yearslater this memorybrought the artistback to build a homefor his family.Members of theBronxville HistoricalConservancy weretreated to a tour ofthe venerated landscape artist’shome. Despite afew raindrops, all whoheaded up theHudson on that dreary day wereinspired by a boldvision, thoughtfullypreserved.

Enjoying a day at Olana: Audrey Vigier, Harry and Suzanne Tether & Bob Wein

CRUISING THE HUDSON RIVER TO

OLANA

n overcast sky did not darken the spirits of 125 Conservancy members who, on Sunday, September 28, 2003, cruised ona fast ferry up the Hudson River to Catskill and then busedto Olana, the historical skytop home of Frederic Church, the

eminent 19th Century landscape artist.The party met the ferry at Restoration Pier in Yonkers and took lunch as

the ferry passed the river's historic landmarks including Kycuit, West Point,Hyde Park, the Vanderbilt Mansion, Montgomery Place and Edgewater,the near 200-year old riverside house owned and restored by RichardJenrette and visited by the Conservancy September 2002. The captainsurprised the Conservancy's planner by disembarking passengers in Catskillon the west side of the river; Hudson on the east side of the river wasexpected to be the destination. Catskill is a handsome 19th century townin its own right and the home of Thomas Cole, the founder of the HudsonRiver School whose house the buses passed.

Light rain fell as members were given escorted tours inside and outsideOlana that has been restored to show the many furnishings and paintingsChurch collected during his lifetime. The view from the south side of the

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BY ROBERT RIGGS

Oh...lana!

Bob amd Wendy Riggs

Madryn Preising & Jayne Warman

Patricia Ranieri, Suzanne Bloomer, Elizabeth Kaminer

Jerry Dole

Moorish villa provided anuninterrupted panoramasouth with the river disappearing on the horizon. The carriage roadscircle the property and thepond, a marsh beforeChurch cleared it, in muchthe manner that the rollinghills, roads and ponds inPocantico Hills circle Kykuitas developed by JohnRockefeller in the early1900s.Only one of the three buseswas able to proceed toHudson, New York, now in arenaissance of discoveryand restoration. The town,actually the "first charteredcity in the United States"after the Declaration ofIndependence, is rich withresidences and public

buildings constructed inthe first half of the 19thcentury. Those fortunateto proceed to Hudsonwere able to visit theRobert Jenkins House, atwo-and-a-half story brickFederal style home built in1811 that would be just ascomfortable on MainStreet in Nantucket.Indeed, the house wasconstructed by aNantucket family whomoved to Hudson in the1790s with other Nantucketwhaling families in order toestablish a successful whaling industry free ofBritish oppression.The party returned toCatskill and were ferrieddown the river with the sunoccasionally breaking outas it settled in the west.

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L-R: Lucille Pickwick, Challis Snyder, Bumpty McGrath, Dick Bower, Mike Bryson, Laura Bryson, Mimi Wein, Ellie Urstadt, Amanda Moore

...OldNews...Sentimental remnants of the BRONXVILLE BOWLING LANESremain in Bill Murphy’s vigilant care. Once a 10-pin challenge on Milburn Street

where the former mayor, along with Bob Riggs and Phil Koutsis ofPete’s Place set pins to earn a buck or two...and the great BabeRuth stopped buy to grab a bite and knock down a few, thebowling alley was torn down in the mid-70s. Question for Billor anyone else who might remember: was the N in the signalways backward?

Pictured here in a 1902 ad recently acquired by the Bronxville Local HistoryRoom, the KNICKERBOCKER MOTOR CAR was manufactured byinventor Ward Leonard in the old Swain factory once located in Bronxville where

River House is today. The Knickerbocker was modeled after the European-designedRenault with a vertical engine over a front axle, but was never a commercial success.

Ward Leonard, an early resident of Lawrence Park who had worked withThomas Edison, is still known, however, for his inventions in electricity.

The ChroniclePublished by the

Bronxville Historical Conservancy© Fall 2003

Designed & Edited by Nancy VittoriniSubmissions welcome!

The Bronxville Historical Conservancy was

established in 1998 to further the understanding

and appreciation of the history and current life

of the Village of Bronxville, New York.

The Conservancy furthers its mission through

the presentation of programs, publications,

lectures and special events that foster

an awareness of the village’s architectural,

artistic and cultural heritage

and lends its support for projects designed to

strengthen and preserve those legacies.

The BronxvilleHistorical

Conservancy

Interested in local history?Want to help preserve the past?

Join the Bronxville Historical Conservancy!

Contact Don Gray at 779-2043.

It’s billed as the Most Romantic Musical of the Year. The new Broadway hit,“Never Gonna Dance” is filled with some of the most glorious songs ever writtenby former villager JEROME KERN. Great hits such as “A FineRomance,” “I Won’t Dance,” “I’m Old Fashioned” and “The Way You Look

Tonight” whisk you back to that magical era, when everything was sophisticated...and anything was possible. Especially in Bronxville!