A week or so ago, Bob and I walked south to the village of Irvington along the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail. This route took us onto the lovely grounds of Lyndhurst Mansion. Yesterday we went back to the estate grounds to tour the home. It was $26 apiece for the one hour tour, which we really enjoyed. We also viewed the 20 minute video of the estate at the Welcome Center and perused the cute gift shop.
Our tour guide was very good, and there were a total of 14 of us on the tour. The Gothic Revival mansion was designed in 1838 by the architect Alexander Jackson Davis as a summer home for William Paulding, a former NYC Mayor and his family. It was only owned by three families — the Pauldings, the Merritts, and the Goulds— before it was donated to the state in 1961.
Each time it was sold, the home was sold furnished (minus art and books), so much of the furnishings are from one of the three families.
When the house was originally built for the Pauldings, it ended before the highest tower. George Merritt bought the house for his family in 1864 and had the building expanded to accommodate his larger family. He was able to hire the original architect who designed the expansion of the house, which included a large dining room, additional bedrooms, and the large tower with the initials of Merritt’s children. The expansion nearly doubled the size of the house from its original 7,000 square feet.
Mr. Merritt was the first to refer to the house as Lyndhurst due to the many linden trees on the property. He also converted the landscape from open farmland to a country estate with additional trees, walkways to view the Hudson River, and a grand wood-framed greenhouse.
Mr. Merritt’s widow Julia decided to sell the estate, and it was purchased by the railroad tycoon Jay Gould in 1880. The biggest change Jay Gould made to the estate was to replace the greenhouse, which burned to the ground, with an 18,000 square foot metal-framed one that allowed for 14 different temperature zones for his plants. After Jay Gould’s death, the house was lived in by his oldest daughter Helen and her family and then by the youngest daughter Anna after Helen passed. Anna then donated the estate to New York upon her death in 1961.
The bunting is for the 250th anniversary of the US.
Note: The dress on the mannequin is one worn by Helen Gould to a costume party where she dressed as Martha Washington.
at the front of the house
by the Pauldings but was converted
to an art gallery by the Merritts.
with a bedroom up the stairs behind the woman in green
as the Merritts took theirs when they sold the property
She and her husband used the master bedroom
when they lived in the house with their children.
Note: Helen Gould married at the age of 44. She and her husband then adopted 4 children that they raised on the property. She added a bowling alley and enclosed swimming pool on the property.
and that she would use again when she returned from France
to manage the property after her sister’s death.
She chose to live in the city and just spend summers here.
Peckish Travels 