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Untermyer Park and Gardens

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Untermyer Park
Untermyer Park and Gardens is located in New York
Untermyer Park and Gardens
Location945 North Broadway Yonkers, New York
Area16 acres (6.5 ha)
Built1899
ArchitectWilliam W. Bosworth and Charles Wellford Leavitt [2]
Architectural styleBeaux Arts
NRHP reference No.74002263 [1]
Added to NRHPMay 31, 1974

Untermyer Park (also known as Untermyer Gardens, previously part of an estate known as Greystone) is a historic park of 43 acres, situated in Yonkers, Westchester County, New York, just north of New York City. Untermyer Park is on a hillside above the Hudson River and features a rock garden, a "Grecian garden" (actually a Persian Paradise garden), a small Grecian-style amphitheater, a classical pavilion, pergola, statuary, and a view of the river.

The Untermyer Gardens were developed during the first 40 years of the 20th century, when the area now enclosed by the park was part of an 150-acre site that was the estate of the lawyer and civic leader Samuel Untermyer.

Greystone had previously been owned by defeated Presidential candidate Samuel Tilden, winner of the popular vote in 1876. Untermyer purchased Greystone when Tilden died in 1899; when Untermyer himself died in 1940, his plan had been to donate the whole estate to the Nation, or the State of New York or at least to the City of Yonkers. Eventually the city of Yonkers agreed to accept part of the estate; this parcel of land, which was the core of the gardens, was renamed Untermyer Park in his honor.[3] The Park was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.[1]

History

Image from circa 1900

The land that is now known as Untermyer Park was originally part of a large (150 acre) estate known as Greystone, which had first been put together in 1864 by John T. Waring, a hat manufacturer. In 1879 Waring sold the estate to Samuel J. Tilden (1814-1886).[4] Tilden died at Graystone on August 4, 1886.[5]

The 150-acre piece of land then was then purchased by, and became the estate of, lawyer and civic leader Samuel Untermyer (1858-1940). Untermyer developed elaborate gardens in the Beaux Arts style during the years 1899 to 1940, when he died. Untermyer had wished to give the gardens to the Nation, to New York State or failing that, to the City of Yonkers, but because of the great cost of the upkeep of the gardens, which were not accompanied by an endowment, the bequest was initially refused by all three bodies. Finally, in 1946, part of the land, the core of the gardens, was accepted as a gift by the City of Yonkers, and made into a public park.[6]

The Park was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.[1] As of 2011, the Untermyer Gardens Conservancy, a non-profit, is working on restoring the gardens.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ^ http://www.yonkersghostinvestigators.com/untermyer-park.html
  3. ^ "Untermyer park". Retrieved 2007-01-11.
  4. ^ http://nynjctbotany.org/lgtofc/nyuntrmy.html
  5. ^ New York: A Guide to the Empire State (1940), p. 374, at Google Books
  6. ^ Lynn Beebe Weaver (December 1973). "National Register of Historic Places Registration:Untermyer Park". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Retrieved 2011-01-01. See also: "Accompanying six photos".
  7. ^ http://www.untermyergardens.org
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