BHC Chronicle Spring 2013

7/28/2019 BHC Chronicle Spring 2013

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INSIDE

SPRING 2013

The Ghosts of Bronxville

Bronxville, New York

A Publication of

The Chronicle

Brendan Gill Lecturer Jon Meachamengaging, smart, entertaining,

memorable and charming.History Comes AliveJon Meacham StarsAt Brendan Gill Lecture

Welcome Aboard!Two new members

join the board

Halloween PreviewHistoric

haunted house tour

Full Steam Ahead!Eastchesters

350th anniversarycelebration planning

In full swing

Giverny and BronxvilleTwo critical venues in

an artists development

Coming SoonBronxville

Natural Resources Report

GoodbyeYellow Brick Road?

Preserving a treasure

A MemorableMemorial Day

A great parade andmuch, much more

Join/Rejoin!Membership definitely

has its advantages

By Bob Scott

A near-capacity audience attended our 15th annual Brendan Gill CommunityLecture on Friday evening, April 12th to hear Pulitzer-Prize-winning author, JonMeacham. Marilynn Hill, lifetime co-chair, introduced Meacham to the nearcapacity crowd in the Reisinger Auditorium at Sarah Lawrence College.

Combining hisconsiderable historicknowledge of ThomasJefferson and otherfounding fathers withthe current state ofAmerican politics,Meacham began hisremarks by puttingJefferson and otherpatriots in perspective.While we may regardthem as giants, theywere merely patrioticmen facing thesignificant challenges oftheir day, some of

which are stillchallenging us.

He went on to discuss two kinds of partisanship that existed then and now ordinary partisanship, disagreement on the merits or demerits of an issue; andreflexive partisanship, disagreement stemming from such motives as loyalty toa political party.

Meacham spoke for an hour without any notes and concluded by offering adifferent perspective on how to judge our leaders, past and present. Hesuggested that we not look up at them adoringly, or look down on themcondescendingly, but look them straight in the eye to truly understand thechallenges faced and the decisions made.

(l to r) Marilynn Hill, Lifetime Co-Chair, Bronxville Historical Conservancy;Jon Meacham; Dr. Karen Lawrence, President of Sarah Lawrence College

PhotoCredit:NancyVittorini

Continued on page 3


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Welcome Aboard!The Conservancy is proud to add two new members to theBoard of Directors, Michelle McBride and Stafford Meyer.

Michelle and her husband Vincent moved to Bronxville fouryears ago. Previously, they had lived on the Upper WestSide of New York City for 10 years. They chose Bronxville for

its outstanding school system for their three children and forit's proximity to New York City. According to Michelle, Weloved the feel of Bronxville and appreciated thearchitecture and pristine setting that the village offers. Wehave found it to be the perfect place to raise a family.

Michelle also is very busy with the Bronxville school, JuniorLeague and the Cub Scouts. Recently, she had her scouttroop complete the Conservancys Historical ScavengerHunt. According to Den Leader Michelle, It was thrilling towatch the boys complete the hunt with great enthusiasmand newfound appreciation of how the town has evolvedover the years. My 8-year-old son still reminds me that ValueDrugs is where the school used to be!

Stafford and her husband Doug first came to Bronxville 13years ago to work on an interior design project and fell inlove at first sight. Stafford explains, We appreciated theunique nature of the village and have lived in Bronxvilleever since, except for our four-year stint in London. TheMeyers have three children.

Stafford currently serves on the Elementary School Councilas the Green Chair and recently joined the board of

Concordia Conservatory where she has a special interest intheir growing fine arts program. In addition to hercommunity service, during the past 12 months, the Meyershave undertaken a renovation of their "Meadow Cottage,"a 1904 Bates House. Stafford adds, It has been a fun andchallenging project to modernize the house while keepingits unique characteristics in tact.

New Board Members Michelle McBride and Stafford Meyer

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Photo credit: Judy Fole

GHOSTS OF BRONXVILLE

How can we attract more families with school-agechildren to the Conservancy? This is the question ErinSaluti and the Conservancys

newest board members, MichelleMcBride and Stafford Meyer, havebeen wrestling with for the pastseveral months. The trio had severalbrainstorming sessions to developideas that would draw families in.They knew exactly what they wereafter: an event that would bring thehistory of Bronxville to life, and truly

engage children.

Amid the flurry of ideas, it wassuggested that spooky sells. If itsspooky, they will come! becametheir mantra, and an exciting newevent concept was born, TheGhosts of Bronxville.

This October 18th, the BHC willintroduce an authentically spooky, candlelight tour wherefamilies with children will be able to meet some ofBronxvilles most illustrious ghosts in their original historicdwellings. 5 homes within easy walking distance have

been secured for the appearance of the spectral figures:3 on the Hilltop, and 2 at the base. Efforts are being made

to keep the ghostly encountersrealistic, convincing and historicallyaccurate. With this in mind, it hasbeen decided that the tour will bebest suited for children ages 8-13,accompanied by chaperones. Theevening will culminate in an after-party offering traditional Halloweengames and activities.

The development of the Ghosts ofBronxville is a huge undertaking asMichelle McBride describes:Bringing to life the historic figures ofBronxville, while preserving theiressence is no easy task. StaffordMeyer added, In terms of content,we are aiming to give the kids themost captivating bits of Bronxvilleshistory and lore, while at the same

time ensuring that complicated logistics run smoothly. Allthree board members are enjoying the creative process,and are looking forward to that cool night in October,when history will come to life.

By Bob Scott

By Erin Saluti


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? &Judy Foley Erin & Joe Saluti

Annette Dowling & Cheryl Tague

A reception hosted by the Conservancy followed thelecture. The audience was very enthusiastic aboutMeachams engaging humor, his outstandingcommand of history and his Southern gentlemanstyle. People described him as engaging, smart,entertaining, memorable andcharming. The event wascharacterized as the best ever,and it set a new standard for Gilllectures.

Previous Brendan Gill lecturershave included architecture critic,Paul Goldberger; author GeorgePlimpton; environmentalist RobertKennedy, Jr.; preservationistRichard Jenrette; museumdirector Robert Macdonald;

biographer Walter Isaacson;author and Civil War expertJames McPherson; historian David

Halberstam; author Russell Shorto; biographer RobertCaro; JFKs legendary speechwriter TheodoreSorensen; noted Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer;journalist and author Cokie Roberts; and historianKenneth Jackson.

More Than 350 Attend 15th Annual Brendan Gill LectureContinued from page 1

Anderson Kenny

Jane StauntonJane Johnston

John Hill & Bob Riggs

Wendy Riggs Pat DrewJudge George McKinnis

?, Donald & Kathy Gray

Photo credit: Nancy Vittorini

Conservancy Co-Chair Judy Unis and George Unis

Conservancy Co-Chair Bill Dowling


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KEEPING THE COVENANTBy Liz Folberth

The CelebrationCommittee for the350th Anniversary of the

Town of Eastchester,including the villages of

Bronxville and Tuckahoe,has been formed to honorthe rich history of thisimportant and diversecommunity bydocumenting andcelebrating the past three-and-a-half centuries. ASteering Committee offormer officials, historiansand history lovers (includingmany Bronxville HistoricalConservancy members) is

reaching out to libraries,schools, neighborhood andcivic associations, andvolunteer groupsthroughout the entirecommunity to ensureinvolvement by all who areinterested.

A year-long festival of events and activities involvingresidents of all ages is in the planning stages. Some ofthe highlights include the publication of a handsomevolume on little-known Eastchester history, trolley tours ofthe towns historical sites, and an exhibition in the OSilas

Gallery of the towns oldest landmarks and ananthology of its most interesting residents.

Importantly, all three public school districts will beoffering educational programs for our students. Eachschool will adopt its own approach, plus someopportunities that will be open across district lines.Students at the private and parochial schools will beinvited to participate as well. Dont be surprised if yousee young people dressed up as Anne Hutchinson orJohn Adams (who lived here briefly with his family). Themenu of suggestions, culled from activities used forNational History Day, includes exhibits, research papers,

performance pieces, and electronic media. Resourcesavailable for the beginning of the 2013-2014 school yearinclude a website (under construction) and a packet ofprimary sources covering many national themes andlocal topics pertaining to Eastchester history.

Imagine an entire town reading and discussing onebook with the same enthusiasm that some now followthe latest Downton Abbey episode. This 350thAnniversary event is the OneBook/One CommunityRead Program sponsored by the three public librariesand Concordia College, showcasing 97 Orchard byJane Ziegelman. In 97 Orchard, Ms. Ziegelman exploreshow five different immigrant groupsGerman, Irish,

Jewish, Russian and Italianbrought their food passions to

New York and managed thechallenges of producing

family meals in cold water

flats.

From the initial reading of thebook, possibilities forcommunity engagement areabundant: lectures, discussiongroups, ethnic eatingexperiences, recipe sharing,cooking lessons and trips to 97Orchard Street (home of theLower East Side TenementMuseum) and Ellis Island. Theprojects goals are to

encourage town residents tolearn and share their ownfamily histories and toencourage an appreciation oftodays newest immigrantswho make their homes andbusinesses here in Eastchester.

The Anniversary Celebration aspires to make a lastingcontribution to the rich cultural legacy of the Town ofEastchester. But to do this, broad communityinvolvement is needed. For example, volunteers arepitching in to do the work, such as authorship andediting of a history book. Out-of-pocket expenses, such

as printing the book, will be funded by contributionssolicited by the steering committee, and not by thetown or the villages. A not-for-profit corporation,Eastchester 350th Anniversary Inc., has been set up toaccept tax-deductible contributions.

The farm families who accepted the original deed tothe town in June 1664 would hardly recognize thesuburban residential community that is Eastchestertoday. But the spirit of the Covenant they made witheach other (preserved in the Eastchester Town Hallvault) has inspired volunteerism and good governance

that has characterized

the Town throughoutthe years that followed.Keeping theCovenant, bothliterally and figuratively,will be the keystone forthe Eastchester 350thcelebration.

Bob Riggs, Co-Chair,350th Celebration Committee


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Photocredit:BillDowling

Guest Lecturer: Dr. E. Adina Gordon

In an Old French Garden:

Mary Fairchild MacMonnies in GivernyO

n Sunday, March 10, the Conservancy hosted alecture at the library by Dr. E. Adina Gordonentitled In an Old French Garden: Mary

Fairchild MacMonnies in Giverny. Eighty peopleattended and were introduced to one of the mostsuccessful female artists of her generation. Following hersecond marriage to the muralist Will Hicok Low, shespent her last three decades living in Bronxville. The Lowslived at 25 Prescott Avenue, currently the home of Joeand Erin Saluti (a Conservancy board member), which

was one of three artists studios featured on theConservancys October 2012 house tour.

In her introduction, former Conservancy Co-Chair JayneWarman noted that she, while preparing for the 2012

house tour, got to know Dr. Gordon, who generouslyshared her extensive knowledge of Mary MacMonniesLow. Dr. Gordon, an art historian who specializes inAmerican painting, sculpture and architecture fromColonial days to World War II, has authored art exhibitioncatalogues on Frederick MacMonnies and MaryMacMonnies Low, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, andAmerican artists who studied in Paris and formed theexpatriate colony of artists in Giverny. Currently, she iswriting two Catalogues Raisonn: one on the paintings

of Frederick MacMonnies, and another on the paintingsof Mary Fairchild MacMonnies Low.

The St. Louis-bred Mary Fairchild, who in 1885 at the ageof 27 went to Paris to study art, was already exhibiting herpaintings in the prestigious Paris Salon by 1886. In 1887,she met the charismatic Brooklyn-born sculptor FrederickMacMonnies, five years her junior. They soon married. The1893 Worlds Columbian Exposition in Chicago broughtfame to both MacMonnieses. Mary won the commissionof her life, to create Primitive Woman, one of two largemurals for the Womans Building (the other was by MaryCassatt); Frederick created the Expositions centerpiece,a sculpture of Columbia in her Grand Barge of State in

the central fountain.

After 1890, the MacMonnieses joined the livelyinternational artists community in Giverny, a rural villageon the Seine west of Paris where Claude Monet hadsettled in the early 1880s. Dr. Gordon characterized MaryMacMonnies as the hostess with the mostest, whoseexpansive, hospitable nature made her home in Givernya social center for American artists such as Will HicokLow and his wife Berthe.

The MacMonnies home, called Le Moutier, was aconverted priory with a walled garden. It was here thatMary began to develop her impressionistic plein air style,

abandoning her large-scale studio work, to paint inbright colors in dappled sunlight. With the birth of hertwo daughters, Berthe (Betty) and Marjorie (a son diedat age 2 of meningitis), MacMonnies began to paintwomen and children, a theme she pursued for twodecades. Her garden became her studio and shepainted it in every season.

After Will Lows wife Berthe died and Mary MacMonniesdivorced her husband, the two married and latermoved to Bronxville. Here, Mary flourished as a painterof gardens, children and landscapes.

By Liz Folberth

Dr. E. Adina Gordon


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In which of the five landscape types of the village doyou live and what native plants and trees would thrivein your neighborhood? Did you know that the Norway

Maple is considered an invasive species that grows in allconditions and emits a chemical that inhibits the growthof other nearby plants? Or that the wild geranium withits showy flowers in pink, white, and purple is agroundcover native to our area and is ideal for shade

gardens andwoodland slopes?These are just afew of thequestions you willhave answered inDefining theLandscapes ofBronxville, aConservancyproject whichexplores thelandscapes in thevillage through the

use of computermapping.

The purpose of the study is to investigate both thenatural and cultural landscapes of Bronxville in order tobetter understand the unique physical patterns that existhere. The analysis of the natural landscape includesexamining subsurface geology, hydrology, topography,slopes, soils and vegetation. The analysis of the culturallandscape includes patterns of development,transportation, neighborhood and construction

chronology, land useand zoning, and theunique characteristicsof each area.

The study identifiesfive unique landscapetypologies in thevillage which includethe Village Center, theValley, the Hilltop, theHillsides, and thePlateau. When thereport is published,

residents will be able to understand the natural featuresthat determine the character of each of theselandscapes and the cultural features that have beenoverlaid on these natural settings. A series ofapproximately twelve maps identify these natural andmanmade features which in turn will help developstrategies to preserve and enhance our environment inthe future.

The report will provide a list of two hundred native treesand plants annotated by landscape type. This can beused by residents as they make plans for their propertiesas well as by village officials and landscape architects. Ashorter list of approximately thirty-five of the mostcommon native plants and trees will also be includedalong with pictures and a brief description of each one.In addition, the study will give a descriptive list of invasivespecies that will aid residents in understanding whattypes of plants they might want to avoid.

COMING SOON: Defining Bronxvilles LandscapeBy Nancy Hand

By Bill Dowling

The Lawrence Park Hilltop,developed by William Van DuzerLawrence in the late 1890s andearly 1900s as an art colony andlisted in the national register ofhistoric places, lingers among usa century later as a welcomefragrance, wrote Brendan Gill.The Hilltop today still gives us aglimpse into the past with itscenturies-old oaks, uniqueshingle-style architecture and

charming yellow-brick andcobblestone roads. But todaythose historic roads are underthreat of being buried underasphalt.

In February the Department ofPublic Works notified the Lawrence Park Hilltop Associationthat some of the roads, in particular the northern portion ofPark Avenue from Wellington Circle down to the bottom ofthe hill, had deteriorated so badly that the bricks wouldhave to be removed and the road graded and paved withasphalt. The old bricks, they stated, would most likelycrumble when being removed. At that point, theAssociation reached out to the Conservancy to ask foradvice and assistance.

The Department of Public Worksreported that they could notsource replacement brick paversto match the existing ones andeven if they could, there was nomoney in their budget for anytype of road surface other thantar macadam. The Conservancymet with the Mayor and Directorof Public Works and asked thatthey delay the paving of thedownhill portion of Park Avenue

until we could research the bricksand find a company that couldsupply old bricks or reproducepavers to match the originals.

The Conservancy has contactedthe New York Landmarks

Conservancy and leading preservation architects whospecialize in this area and is currently interviewing a halfdozen companies who are capable of manufacturingreproductions of historic brick, or sourcing antique brickpavers, to see which company might be best suited tosupply the village. Once that source is identified and anestimate is made of the cost, the next step for theConservancy will be to work with the village on funding theproject.

Historic Hilltop Roads Under Threat

Landscape Typology Map


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Five years ago, inorder to re-emphasize thememorial InMemorial Day, twovillage residents,

Conservancy boardmember JaneStaunton and CindiCallahan, askedthe Bronxville

Historical Conservancy for a small grant to help theminitiate a veterans commemoration at the BronxvilleWomens Club two weeks prior to Memorial Day. Theyassembled a remarkable collection of newspaperarticles, letters, photographs and biographies of localresidents dating back to World War I. This material wassupplemented by framed photos of veterans with their

service records, a collection donated by Eastchesterhistorian Michael Fix. This original Bronxville VeteransMemorial display, however, attracted fewer than 75people when it was presented on a Sunday in themiddle of May.

With the Conservancys encouragement, the creatorsagreed to make the exhibit available on Memorial Day.Since 2011, the Commemoration was displayed in theschool gym for five days surrounding the Memorial Dayweekend. Nearly all of the schools students are guidedthrough the exhibit and large numbers of residents havehelped the attendance soar to well over a thousandpeople who paid their respects to our veterans. Thanksto Jane, Cindi, Michael, the Parent Teacher Association,and the Bronxville School administration and faculty,the Veterans commemoration will again be presentedin the school gym this coming Memorial Day weekend.

Emphasizing the Memorial in Memorial Day

One of the visual delights of the BronxvilleMemorial Day Parade is having it led by alarge contingent of antique Model A cars from

the Model A Ford Club of Westchester, a parade entrysponsored by the Conservancy. This year, as usual, onMonday, May 28, the Model A Fords will gather at 8a.m. on Studio Arcade. Other cars, age 25 years andolder, are welcome to join the parade. If you wouldlike to participate with your car, please call Richard

Schearer at 914-770-0044 to register, or beat Studio Arcade before 8:15 A.M.

Oldies, But Goodies!


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The Chronicle Spring 2013Editor: Bob Scott

Associate Editor: Liz Folberth

Designer: Ken Gudaitis

Contributing Editors:Bill Dowling, Liz Folberth, Nancy Hand,

Marilynn Hill, Erin Saluti

Contributing Photographers:Bill Dowling, Judy Foley, Nancy Vittorini,

Submissions welcome!

P. O. Box 989Bronxville, NY 10708

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Membership growing! 80 new members and counting!The Bronxville Historical Conservancy is dedicated to an understanding

and appreciation of the heritage and culture of Bronxville.

The Bronxville Historical Conservancy was

founded in 1998 to further the understanding and

appreciation of the history and current life of the

Village of Bronxville, New York.

The Conservancy furthers its mission through the

presentation of programs, publications, lectures and

special events that foster an awareness of the villages

architectural, artistic and cultural heritage and lends

its support for projects designed to strengthen

and preserve those legacies.

I wish to become a member.

Enclosed is my check payable to The Bronxville Historical Conservancy

Or join online: www.bronxvillehistoricalconservancy.org

$50 Lawrence Friend $100 Chambers Champion

$250 Prescott Patron $500 Underhill Fellow $1,000 Masterton Benefactor

Each membership, at any level, is a household membership for the calendar year.

Corporate memberships are also available.

Please print clearly:

First Name(s)__________________________________Last Name_____________________________________

Address _____________________________________________________________________________________

Telephone____________________________________Email__________________________________________

Please mail your check to Bronxville Historical Conservancy, P.O. Box 989, Bronxville, NY 10708

Documents

BHC Chronicle Spring 2013