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November, 1942
The Marist Preparatory School property which was acquired during the past
summer is a two hundred acre plot of land, located in part in the village
of West Park and in part in the town of Esopus, and bounded on the west by
route 9-W (also known as the Albany Post Road), and on the east by the
Hudson River. This piece of land was detached from a much larger estate of
approximately 800 acres which had been assembled by the late Colonel
Oliver Hazard Payne during the early years of this century. This was later
willed by him to his favorite nephew, Harry Payne Bingham, who donated it
outright to the New York Protestant Episcopal diocese which transformed it
into a convalescent home operated on a charity basis.
Due to the windings of the highway and to the irregular indentations
caused by the river, the lot assumes a shape which in no wise resembles
any definable geometrical figure. It runs over four thousand feet in a
rather broken line along route 9-W and skirts the Hudson shore three
thousand four hundred feet as the crow flies. The southern limit is
roughly 1/4 of a mile and the northern extremity goes well beyond a mile
in its greatest length.
Since this
territory lies within the range of the Shawangunk mountains, the surface
of the property is rather uneven. A central plateau of comparatively
uniform altitude runs from north to south and takes in a great part of the
acreage. On the east the land slopes very rapidly away from the central
height of land to the shores of the Hudson. On the west the steepness is
less pronounced except at the northwestern extremity of the estate where
the greatest contrast in levels and the sharpest declivities are found.
The architects who planned the arrangement of the buildings very wisely
placed all the dwelling houses on the central plateau, thus facilitating
communication, drainage, and distribution of water supply.
A complex system of
wide, well-built roads reaches to practically all sections of the
property. These roads vary in width from twenty-five foot main arteries to
ten or twelve foot driveways in the more remote and less frequented
portions of the grounds. Most of these roads are lined with stately shade
trees (mostly maples and elms) thus forming pleasantly secluded walks.
Without any definite data as yet available, it seems safe to assume that
the mileage of roadways on the estate totals somewhere between four and
five miles. A very complete and carefully planned system of drainage, both
at the surface and underground, takes care of rain water and prevents
costly erosion. Considering the number of years that the grounds, have
been left without proper care, since 1927, the roads and the system of
drainage are in a surprisingly excellent state of preservation which is
unquestionable evidence of the quality of the original workmanship.
A previous
reference to the location of this property in mountain country may have
created an impression of enormous rocks and precipitous ledges breaking
out at the surface in the most undesirable places. This was undoubtedly
the case at the time the land was in its natural condition. But long years
of terracing, landscaping, and importing of the highest grade of top soil,
accompanied by scientific fertilizing and loaming, have given the property
-- at least that portion which is not totally wooded -- a top dressing
which hardly, could be surpassed in quality. Lawns, gardens, and orchards
have occupied large tracts of the grounds in the past and there is no good
reason to suppose that they could not do just as well in the future. As
one approaches the shores of the Hudson, in the steeper and more hilly
portions of the woodland, the typical bluestone and shale common to the
region become as evident as in other sections of eastern New York.
The intelligent
care which was exhibited in the landscaping of the property was still
further manifested in the attention bestowed on the woods and groves. The
evidence of an expert's, guidance in the choice, the grouping and the
training of the trees and bushes is apparent even to the most casual of
observers. Effectiveness was not obtained by sacrificing the natural to
the artistic. It was rather a case of improving what was already beautiful
and pleasing. While one grove is intended to present a similarity in
foliage, another strives to bring out a contrast in coloration. Some
clumps of maples bring together as many as eight variations of this
prolific family, and neighboring collections of evergreens exhibit
surprising varieties of conifers. Bushes and vines, flowering and
non-flowering, have been scattered about with a prodigality which was
restrained solely by the rules of good taste. One need nor be a trained
botanist to appreciate the wonders of native and imported plant life which
are found in even the most unexpected parts of the woods.
It is difficult to
estimate from mere inspection the amount of land actually fully wooded and
the proportion which is cleared of trees and brush. A great part of the
central plateau is either open ground or fields with occasional groups of
trees and bushes thrown about to relieve the monotony of interminable
green lawns. Much of the sloping area along the old Post Road has likewise
been opened and landscaped. The total acreage devoted to open fields or
lawns probably comes close to one hundred acres. The greater part of this
was at one time kept up as regularly cut lawns and even today it would not
require too great an expense of time and labor to bring back much of this
to the trim condition of former days. From the front of the Mansion,
looking towards the river, one sees a terraced slope two thousand feet
long which still conjures imaginings of a green carpet extending to the
water's edge. It is claimed that during the lifetime of Colonel Payne
sixty acres of the estate were maintained as close cropped lawns.
Passing from the
foregoing summary inspection of the ground, to a brief examination of the
buildings, it is advisable to consider these as subdivided into two
groups: those built of white limestone, native or imported, and those
constructed of blue limestone quarried on the estate.
The gatehouse, a
classical two-story structure of somewhat sober Italian Renaissance style,
logically deserves first consideration due to its location at the main
entrance of the grounds, the vehicular gateway facing route 9-W. A curving
ten-foot wall, also of white limestone, which leads up to a massive
grilled iron portal, recessed one hundred fifty feet from the line of the
highway, bears out still further the suggestion of a Florentine villa of
the fifteenth century.
One
thousand feet further into the property, having negotiated the climb which
winds to the level of the central plateau, one comes upon a French
chateau, with towered keep, dormer windows, and many-gabled red-tiled
roof, a replica of seigniorial residences in the land of Provence. This
was the gardener's cottage. Living quarters were on the second and third
floors. The spaciousness of the rambling ground floor was subdivided into
large, white-tiled halls which housed the indoor activities of the
florists and gardeners. At the rear of this cottage, and directly
connecting with it, with its long axis laid out in an easterly direction,
is the greenhouse. This was once a proud, glass-domed structure of great
beauty. but the challenge of so much unprotected glass was too
irresistible for the youth of the neighborhood. Ruins, all the more
ghastly because of the evident past grandeur, are all that is left of the
splendor of better days. The east end of this terminates in a white
limestone two-story tool shed, which balances to a degree the cottage at
the opposite end.
(to be continued)
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