Wildcliff

Wildcliff
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
File:WildcliffManor.JPG north side of Wildcliff
Location	42 Wildcliff Rd., New Rochelle, New York
Built	1852
Architect	Davis, Alexander
Architectural style	Gothic Revival, Tudor Revival
NRHP reference No.	02001656
Added to NRHP	December 31, 2002

Wildcliff, also referred to as the Lawton, Cyrus, House, is a historic gothic revival residence in the City of New Rochelle in Westchester, New York. The house was designed by one of the most prominent architects of the time, Alexander Jackson Davis.

Davis had designed several historic gothic revival mansions in Westchester including Lyndhurst and Whitby, as well as a variety of more modest family houses. The smaller ones were called "cottages", and the more substantial ones "villas", but the terms were used loosely and sometimes combined. Among their typical features were prominent, steep-roofed gables, with elaborately carved bargeboards under their eaves. Two of Davis's "cottage-villas" survive on the New Rochelle penninsula called Davenport Neck, one of which is Wildcliff.

One of Davis's personal friends was a New York Lawyer by the name of Cyrus Lawton. Lawton's wife was the daughter of Lawrence Montgomery Davenport, whose family had owned Davenport Neck since the late 18th Century. In 1852 Lawton commissioned Davis to design a Gothic cottage-villa on a hilltop at the eastern end of the Neck, with sweeping views of Echo Bay and Long Island Sound. In the mid 1860's Davis designed additions to the house in the same style with special efforts made so that the changes would be as inconspicuous as possible. Bargeboards and other ornamental details match exactly and stonework was laid so that there would be no sign of the joint between the old and new sections.

After Cyrus Lawton's death in 1902, the property was owned by his son Newberry Lawton Davenport, until it was purchased by Julius and Clara Prince in 1913. The Princes made some further alterations, in the half-timbered Tudor style, but most of the house remained as it was. Clara Prince donated Wildcliff to the City of New Rochelle in 1940. It has since been used for a variety of purposes including a natural science museum and performing arts center. Around 1970 a wing housing a theater was added at one corner of the house but the main structure remains intact.

The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December, 31, 2002.