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;