This is a machine-generated transcript. Text is unformatted and may contain errors.
I want to tell to you today about one of New York's finest houses not one that has just been recently built but one which has within the past year passed into the possession of the people of New York by the generosity of its owners and which through the enterprise of a local committee will henceforth put to the to the service of the people in an unusual and appropriate way if I were to say that the house is known to the letter carriers as number six hundred forty five West two hundred fifty second Street Bronx New York it would not mean much to most New Yorkers but those who know the Riverdale and Hudson neighborhood recognize it as the address of Wave Hill that great gray house that sits under spreading oaks on the banks of the Hudson amid more than twenty acres of gardens and logs it has a history of past and like some of the great houses in Washington's Georgetown such as Dumbarton Oaks it has stood the test of time and remains a thing of beauty and usefulness down to this day originally built about eight hundred thirty as a gentleman's country home the color of the House of simple dignified federal design later passed into the hands of the publishing Appleton's who in the eight hundred eighty S. when it was considered considerably had lived used it as the seat of social activity where many of the well known literary lights of that generation assembled and were entertained Mark Twain and Theodore Roosevelt each record it for a time just at the South stood a more flamboyant Victorian house of the so-called queen and college type this was Glynn dog the country home of Bank of George poor kids who acquired the neighboring Appleton place in the early one thousand nine hundred for his daughter Mrs Freeman She in turn. Enlarge and improve the House over the subsequent decades with the aid first in one thousand nine hundred seven of architects Hines and La Farge and in one thousand twenty eight of architect right James Bond the main part of Wave Hill is a spacious stone mansion of so-called Georgian style with trim applied with restraint and dignity the famous gardens were shared with Windows on the grounds of the two houses being merged when wave yield was least for a time to bash for the Dean curator of the Metropolitan Museum a large gothic wing like the apps of a cathedral was added on to the north of the house Mr Dean's private collection of medieval Lama and other artifacts after that the house was leased leased to Arturo Toscanini who found the Dean made evil hall an excellent place for musical recitals Toscanini subst subsequently bought another Riverdale House a short way north of wavy hill in the late one nine hundred forty S. it became the official home of British ambassadors to the United Nations first said Gladwin Jad And then it's a P.S. and Dixon who put up Queen Mother mother Elizabeth there when she visited New York in one thousand nine hundred fifty six in the meanwhile Lyndall the Perkins house to the south had burned down in the one nine hundred thirty S. and was replaced with a rather conventional pseudo Georgian brick affair occupied until our death by the elder Mrs Perkins during all this time the gardens and related greenhouses and other outbuildings including a recreation casino. Well maintained in full style and with the best of care but by the one nine hundred sixty S. no members of the Perkins of Premier Freeman family wanted live in the Splenda the two houses afforded so they presented the entire estate to the city of New York with the stipulation that it be forever maintained by the Department of Parks as a cultural institution open to the public the conclusion of the story is a happy one since the city did not have the funds available to make it to maintain Wave Hill with its extensive gardens and greenhouses in the style to which they were custom a local committee of public spirited neighbors and Riverdale put together a tax exempt charitable Corporation which undertook not only to maintain the houses and grounds but also with the aid of generous foundation grants to establish an important program of public instruction and services Lindo is already being used for the training of teachers that of nature study and for children's classes while Wave Hill will soon open as a local center for adult education and as a setting for musical and other cultural events the grounds and greenhouses will be continued and improved for public demonstration the whole of horticultural methods with families of taste and discrimination who have the generosity to present a fine home to the city with proper strings attract attached New York consider itself most fortunate especially when as in this case its future usefulness is assured by the energetic efforts of a still another group of citizens who have taken the trouble trouble to finance a program of public education and finally evolve this can be contained in a house whose architectural quality is outstanding the objective a Landmark Preservation is most felicitously achieved. Six forty five West to forty second Street Bronx New York is an address that holds much meeting much meaning those who know it and soon will have even more for the thousands of New Yorkers will visit it as the years go on I've given you this crowd in order to familiarize those who don't know way the hill as so many of us do with the fact that New York still has a few great houses left let us save them for the people this is Robert C. Weinberg critic at large an architecture and planning.