Gregory Couch

Sometimes you don’t have to travel far to find inspiration for your next project. With COVID restricting travel and folks trying to stay closer to home, I’ve recently turned my attention to shooting locations near my apartment in Westchester County. Having lived here for two years now, I’ve become relatively familiar with the area and the history that is hiding in plain sight. I spent the last six months hauling my Cambo SC-2 and related 4x5 equipment up and down the Hudson River to capture a handful of the opulent mansions and estates that were once home to some of New York City’s biggest names like Rockefeller and Vanderbilt. I specifically chose to shoot this series on 4x5 B&W film as I felt it captured the grandeur of these structures in a way no other format could match. Large format cameras are heavy and cumbersome, but poses a degree of flexibility that not even modern tilt/shift lenses can match.

Wilderstein Historic Site

Pictured above, Wilderstein’s construction was finalized in 1888 when the home was transformed from a two-story Italianate villa to the elaborate Queen Anne style mansion we see today. Wilderstein was home to the Suckley family up until 1991, when Ms. Margaret Suckley passed away at the age of 99. Like so many other wealthy and influential families in the region, the Suckley’s were friends of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The property, including the mansion and an accompanying carriage house, are preserved by a private trust which does not receive state or federal funding. My favorite feature of this mansion is the large tower, which I can only imagine would be very comfortable in the summer given the abundance of windows and the breeze that blows up from the valley below.

Olana

Architecturally unique and influenced by Frederic Edwin Church’s travels through the Middle East, Olana sits atop a vast landscape with views of the Hudson River, Catskills, and Taconic mountain range. Comprising of 250 acres and meticulously landscaped by Church, Olana was once a working farm and studio space. Frederic Church was a prominent landscape painter and a student of the Hudson River School of painting. He moved into the house in 1879 and lived there until his death as his work faded into obscurity. Renewed interest in his work led to an effort to save Olana from destruction, and the site is now owned and managed by the New York State Parks Department.

Vanderbilt Mansion

Long gone are the days when labor was cheap and summer houses were run by a live-in staff of 10+ gardeners, cooks, and maids. Houses like the Vanderbilt Mansion, built around the turn of the century, were home to more than just the families who paid for their upkeep. I was lucky enough to tour this National Historic Site in December 2019, and this is where I was inspired to dig deeper into the Hudson Valley Mansions standing today. The Vanderbilt Mansion is situated on the outskirts of Hyde Park NY, the hometown of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. After Fredrick Vanderbilt, the last to occupy the home, passed away in 1938, FDR convinced Fredrick’s niece to donate the property to the National Park Service. The park officially opened in 1940 and is home to one of the most well-maintained mansions I visited during my travels. I’m assuming this is because the National Park Service allocates more funding to upkeep than the State of New York is willing to put towards the properties in their care.

Tilden Estate

Situated on a hillside overlooking Broadway in Yonkers, the Tilden Estate is now home to Lenoir Preserve. Administered by the Westchester Parks Department, the mansion is in rough shape due to recent vandalism. I’ve visited here before to hike around about a year ago and distinctly remember there being less plywood covering up the windows. The mansion was built sometime in the late 1800s and was expanded twice in its lifetime. In 1966, the mansion was sold to the Boyce Thompson Institute but was essentially abandoned. Westchester County purchased the estate in 1977, and the Yonkers Board of Education took up residence in the mansion. The mansion has been empty since 2014, but other buildings on the property like the carriage house and garage retain a nature center and maintenance facilities respectively.

Lyndhurst

I spend a lot of time driving between New York and New Jersey, crossing back and forth over the Tappan Zee. Lyndhurst is right off Broadway and I can’t count the number of times I’ve driven past it. If you take a walk down the Old Croton Aqueduct trail, you’ll probably pass through here if you walk far enough north towards Tarrytown. Lyndhurst has changed hands a few times throughout its life, eventually becoming the primary residence of railroad tycoon Jay Gould. Among the other buildings on the property are a regulation bowling alley, swimming pool, and the remnants of a massive greenhouse complex. I’m not at all a morning person, but I’m glad I got up as early as I did to grab this shot. It’s probably my favorite of the series.

Locust Grove

Built in 1851 for Samuel F. B. Morse, inventor of Morse code, this Italianate villa is smack in the middle of Poughkeepsie NY. The structure changed hands a few times throughout its life, being expanded on multiple times to fit the growing families that occupied it. The property was originally a summer home (the Morses spent the winters at their Manhattan townhouse), but the family eventually rented it out due to the high cost of staffing such a large estate. A private foundation, organized by Annette Young (the last owner of the property), maintains the grounds and mansion for the public to enjoy. I really lucked out with this location as I visited on the last day of their operating season and was able to grab a shot.

Montgomery Place

Owned by Bard College, Montgomery place is a great example of the precursor to many of the larger mansion I photographed. Livingston Mansion, Lyndhurst, Wilderstein, and Locust Grove were all massively expanded on over the years from a size similar to that of Montgomery Place into to the monsters they are today. The mansion was owned by the now-familiar Livingston family (of Livingston Mansion) and was built in the Federal style around 1803. The Livingston descendants maintained the property until it was sold to a trust, and later Bard College. There are a variety of outbuildings around the property and informational plaques that detail the history of the ground and the farming operations that once occupied much of surrounding land.

Estherwood

Right across the street in Dobbs Ferry, Estherwood was built in 1895 and today is the home of The Masters School. I almost didn’t include the mansion in this series but I just couldn’t pass it up, given that I walk by it multiple times a week on my way to Stop & Shop or The Children’s Village. The mansion is used for Masters School faculty housing and still retains much of the same interior styling it was built with. Estherwood commands a great view of Dobbs Ferry and the exterior seems to be in good shape. Jennings McComb, who built Estherwood, was responsible for acquiring most of the property the school campus encompasses today.