Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 88, no. 2271: September 23, 1911

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Vol. LXXXVIII SEPTEMBER 23, 1911 No. 2271 THE WESTERN CORNER OF THE BRONX. Riverdale, a Suburban Territory of Large Estates and Country Homes Within the City, Has Rapid Transit, Winding Parkways and a Wealth of Fine Old Trees. THE development and upbuilding of Manhattan and the Bronx have fur¬ nished some strange and unusual situ¬ ations and it has frequently happened that the most desirable residential sections have been the last to be improved. From the standpoint of beautiful scenery, high elevation and healthful air the upper West Side, Morningside Heigiits and Washing¬ ton Heights are far superior for' residen¬ tial purposes to any other districts in Manhattan, Notwithstanding their advan¬ tages, these sections have been improved only in the last few years, while the upper East Side and Harlem have long been thickly populated. In most instances tlie advent of the subway and the building of other transit lines have had some im¬ mediate effect, but occasionally there is an exception and the extreme western corner of the Bronx furnishes one of the most peculiar situations of this nature. North of Spuyten Duyvil Creek to the city line. *er value and if properly developgd would have produced a much better Class of buildings than under small Indiyidual ownerships. Among the more prominent owners of acreage in Riverdale are the Delafield family with 300 acres and control of much more; the Van Cortlandt family with about lUO acres; George W. Perkins, SO acres; the Babcock estate. 40 acres; the Morosini estate, the Goodrich estate. Cleveland H. Dodge, Darwin P. Kingsley and Edmund D. Randolph. With these large property holders are allied others with smaller par¬ cels btit with an equally keen interest in keeping this ridge, as it always has been, the abode of the man of means, who en¬ joys an attractive country home, conven¬ ient to the city. Historically, tliis neigh¬ borhood has always been for the com¬ paratively few. A part of Westchester County, until 1874, when as the annexed district it was taken into the city, it has circular plaza, laid out as a park, with a tall monument in the center. The monu¬ ment is already nearing completion. Radiating from the plaza like the sticks of a fan are a number of fine roads and three splendid boulevards, each IOO feet or more in w'dth. Riverside Drive will run northwesterly near the river to Tonkers. The Henry Hudson Boulevard is to go north through the center of the region and join with Riverside Drive near the city line. Spuyten Duyvil Parkway, already in existence, runs easterly from the bridge to Van Cortland Parli, terminating at Broadway, near the subway station. At its Van Cortlandt end, more property than is required for the roadway will be taken up and a small park laid out. These roads will be one of the striking features of Riverdale. Not a straight street exists in the entire section, the highways being laid out to conform with the contour of the land, and in this way many peculiar rock TIIE BEAUTIFUL SHADED ROADS II? RIVERDALE .ARE ONE OF ITS FE-\TURES. at 261st street, between Van Cortlandt Park and the Hudson River, is a high irregular ridge comprising the two settle¬ ments known as Spuyten Duyvil and Riverdale. For four years this wooded countryside, embracing the highest ground, not only of the Bronx, but of the entire city as well, has had the subway at its door and the New York Central within easy reach. In addition the neighborhood has long had the Yonkers and Putnam division, at the Van Cortlandt Park junction, which con¬ nects with the elevated at looth street, and the Broadway surface line to Yonkers, Few if any outlying districts have been so well favored with transit lines, yet the population, until the last few montlis, has had no considerable increase. It is true that values have increased in the vicinity of the subway and, to some extent, in the more remote parts of the ridge, but much building has not followed and the entire district remains pretty much as it was a decade ago. A glance at the list of owners and a brief survey of the history of the section will show the reason for this lack of pro¬ miscuous building. Practically all of this ridge, a half mile longer than Morning¬ side Heights and a mile or so shorter than Washington Heights, is held by a score of families, some old and some of recent wealth, but all apparently in sound flnancial health. The only breaks in the ranks have been the auction sales in the last few years of the Waldo Hutchins, the Griswold and the Samier estates, sales re¬ garded by the other owners as premature. It is held that these few properties, repre¬ senting a comparatively small acreage, would, if intact to-day, be of much great- shared the character of the whole western border of this county. The physical con¬ ditions, as one historian puts it, "render this region one of the most inviting and favored localities in the world for costly residences and grand estates, and from the earliest period of European settlement the Hudson shore has been the chosen abode of families of wealth and distinc¬ tion." No more attractive location for dwell¬ ings couid be imagined than the river¬ front north of Spuyten Duyvil. From the ship canal, the land rises gradually to a considerable elevation and continues in a succession of dips, all the way to Yonkers, From this ridge a magnificent view of the tludson River is obtainable and the tree- crowned Palisades, on the New Jersey shore, furnish a background wliich re¬ minds one of the hill-surrounded lakes of the Adirondack region. At Riverdale sta¬ tion the hill slopes rather abruptly to the river, and part way up the ridge are a number of costly residences, with a suc¬ cession of flowered terraces, in front, reaching almost to the river. In addition to the natural features en¬ joyed by the district, the city is planning extensive improvements, which will add attractiveness to the region and render it more accessible. Riverside Drive at pres¬ ent ends at 207th street, but it is planned to carry it across the Inwood gap to the hill on the south bank of Spuyten Duyvil Creek, by means of an inimense viaduct, similar to the one at Manhatlanville. From here to the top of Spuyten Duyvil Hill, and spanning the creek, will be the Hendrick Hudson Memorial bridge, one of the handsomest viaducts in the city. The terminal of the bridge will be a 200-foot formations, hillocks and picturesque dells are preserved. Besides this, the roadways are being well and solidly built and will be particularly well adapted for motoring. Although the large estates predominate, and no doubt wil! for several generations, some of them are now being opened in part and an interesting effort is being made to shape the development of the en¬ tire ridge in such fashion as to leave to the city at least one section where a man may have his own home with grounds ahout it and where no apartment houses may intrude. For instance, near the Riverdale station, George W. Perkins has recently built houses on a portion of his estate for George B. Cortelyou, Mrs. B'. W. Freeman and others of equal standhig. Near the bridge plaza at Spuyten Duyvil. a development known as "Along the Hud¬ son" has been opened and a number of at¬ tractive dwellings are under way. The most active work along the ridge is being undertaken by the Delafield estate. Out of their holdings they have set aside 140 acres for a residential park on the crest of the Riverdale hill. Fieldston road, a new 100-foot parkway, runs through the irenter of the tract, connecting Spuyten ii Duyvil and Mosholu parkways, and for '\ many years this property has been 1 known as Fieldston, The estate has built excellent roads and laid them out in con¬ formance with the city maps and, as else¬ where in the section, the streets follow the natural lay of the land. A villa develop¬ ment has already begun. Houses on good- sized plots are under construction for Bishop C. S, Burch, Dr, H, H. Janeway, Professor Ashley Thorndike and several others. Two-family houses and apart¬ ment houses are shut out by restrictions;