Cortlandt Manor / Mohegan Lake / Shrub Oak / Jefferson Valley / Peekskill / Yorktown Heights, NY 10567

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Kykuit - Rockefeller Estate Kykuit known also as the John D. Rockefeller Estate, is a 40-room National Trust house in Westchester County, New York, built by order of oil tycoon, capitalist and Rockefeller family patriarch John D. Rockefeller. Conceived largely by his son, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and enriched by the art collection of third-generation scion, Governor of New York and Vice President of the United States, Nelson Rockefeller, it has been home to four generations of the family. Kykuit, Dutch for “lookout”, is situated on the highest point in the hamlet of Pocantico Hills, overlooking the Hudson River at Tappan Zee. Located near Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow, it has a view of the New York City skyline twenty-five miles to the south. One of America’s most famous private residences, Kykuit was designed originally as a steep-roofed three-story stone mansion by the architects Chester Holmes Aldrich and William Adams Delano. Aldrich was a distant relative of the younger Rockefeller’s wife, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, who was involved as artistic consultant and in the interior design of the mansion. The elder Rockefeller had purchased land in the area as early as 1893 after his brother William had built a 204-room mansion, Rockwood Hall, in the area. The initial eclectic structure took six years to complete. Before being occupied it was substantially rebuilt in its present four-story Classical Revival Georgian form. Completed during 1913, it has two basement levels filled with interconnecting passageways and service tunnels. The home’s interiors were designed by Ogden Codman, Jr., and feature collections of Chinese and European ceramics, fine furnishings and 20thcentury art. It was designated a National Historic Landmark during 1976. During 1979, its occupant, Nelson Rockefeller, bequeathed upon his death his one-third interest in the estate to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. As a result, Kykuit is now open to the public for tours conducted by Historic Hudson Valley. The imposing structure, of local stone topped with the Rockefeller emblem, is located centrally in a 250 acres inner compound (referred to as “the Park”) within the larger Rockefeller family estate. This gated compound is guarded at all times. Save family residences, the rest of the estate (known as the open space) is open to the public for recreational purposes, as it always has been. Initially, landscaping of the grounds was given to the company of Frederick Law Olmsted, who had designed Manhattan’s Central Park. Rockefeller senior was unhappy with this work however and assumed control of the design himself, transplanting whole mature trees, designing lookouts and the several scenic winding roads. During 1906, the further design of Kykuit’s grounds was undertaken by the architect William Welles Bosworth, who designed the surrounding terraces and gardens with fountains, pavilions and classical sculpture. These gardens in the Beaux-Arts style are considered Bosworth’s best work in the United States, looking out over very fine views of the Hudson River. His original gardens still exist, with plantings carefully replaced over time, although his entrance forecourt was extended during 1913. The terraced gardens include a Morning Garden, Grand Staircase, Japanese Garden, Italian Garden, Japanesestyle brook, Japanese Tea-house, large Oceanus fountain, Temple of Aphrodite, loggia, and semicircular rose garden. Nelson transformed previously empty basement passages beneath the mansion that lead to a grotto into a major private art gallery containing paintings by Picasso, Chagall and Warhol, the latter two having visited the estate. Between 1935 and the late 1970s more than 120 works of abstract, avant garde and modern sculpture were added to the gardens grounds from Nelson’s collection, including works by Picasso (‘Bathers’), Constantin Brâncusi, Karel Appel (‘Mouse on Table’), Jean Arp, Alexander Calder, Alberto Giacometti, Gaston Lachaise, Aristide for great offers and freebies in your neighborhood visit ourtownsdeals.com • ©2015 our towns finest magazine • ourtownsfinest.com • 888-241-2351 8
Maillol, Henry Moore, Louise Nevelson, Isamu Noguchi (‘Black Sun’), and David Smith. Kykuit was renovated and modernized during 1995 by New Haven architect Herbert S. Newman and Partners. Included were major infrastructure changes enabling the estate to accommodate group tours of the first floor and art gallery, as were as a reconfiguration of third and fourth floor staff quarters into guest suites. The inner park area was opened to restricted conducted tours of the mansion and immediate surrounds during 1994, but remains occupied and controlled by the family by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, which leased the area from the National Trust for Historic Preservation during 1991 and serves as steward of what is referred to as “the historic area”. Public tours are conducted by Historic Hudson Valley, an organization established during 1951 by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. “to celebrate the region’s history, architecture, landscape, and material culture, advancing its importance and thereby assuring its preservation.” Shuttle vans run from a visitor center located at the Philipsburg Manor House on Route 9 in Sleepy Hollow, New York. for great offers and freebies in your neighborhood visit ourtownsdeals.com • ©2015 our towns finest magazine • ourtownsfinest.com • 888-241-2351 9
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Cortlandt Manor / Mohegan Lake / Shrub Oak / Jefferson Valley / Peekskill / Yorktown Heights, NY 10567

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