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John D. Rockefeller Estate (Kykuit) | |
 Front facade, designed by William Welles Bosworth | |
 Interactive map of John D. Rockefeller Estate (Kykuit) | |
| Location | 200 Lake Road, Pocantico Hills,New York |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 41°05′22.6″N73°50′40″W / 41.089611°N 73.84444°W /41.089611; -73.84444 |
| Area | 3,400 acres (1,380 ha) |
| Built | 1913 |
| Architect | Delano & Aldrich William Welles Bosworth (landscape and renovations) |
| Architectural style | Colonial Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 76001290 |
| NYSRHP No. | 11908.000228 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | May 11, 1976[2] |
| Designated NHL | May 11, 1976[1] |
| Designated NYSRHP | June 23, 1980 |
Kykuit (/ˈkaɪkət/KY-kət),[3][4] known also as theJohn D. Rockefeller Estate, is a 40-roomhistoric house museum inPocantico Hills, a hamlet in the town ofMount Pleasant, New York, 25 miles (40 km) north ofNew York City. The house was built for oil tycoon andRockefeller family patriarchJohn D. Rockefeller. Conceived largely by his son,John D. Rockefeller Jr., and enriched by the art collection of the third-generation scion, Governor of New York, and Vice President of the United States,Nelson Rockefeller, it was home to four generations of the family. The house is aNational Historic Landmark owned by theNational Trust for Historic Preservation, and tours are given byHistoric Hudson Valley.
Kykuit (in modernDutch spellingKijkuit, alsouitkijk, is acompound noun meaning "lookout, look-out"[4][3]) is situated on the highest point in Pocantico Hills, overlooking theHudson River atTappan Zee. Located nearTarrytown andSleepy Hollow, it has a view of theNew York Cityskyline 25 miles (40 km) to the south.
John D. Rockefeller purchased land in the area as early as 1893, after his brotherWilliam had moved into a 204-room mansion,Rockwood Hall, nearby.[5] When Rockefeller and his son chose Pocantico Hills as their residence, he quietly purchased multiple homes and properties in the area, and used the houses for himself and his family and staff, or to rent out. Rockefeller and his wifeLaura Spelman Rockefeller moved into one of these, the Parsons-Wentworth House, in 1893. The couple would spend winter weekends and parts of each summer and fall there, sharing the upstairs rooms with their adult children and in-laws, pending construction of the manor house.
The Parsons-Wentworth House burned down on September 17, 1902, and the Kent House became their temporary residence until rebuilding could occur.The New York Times mentioned that Rockefeller had never been satisfied with the destroyed house's electric wiring, which had been installed before certain safety measures were developed. He had ordered workers to reroute the wires into conduits, work which had been planned to commence the day after it was pre-empted by the fire. The loss was estimated at $40,000.[6][7][5] Kykuit, designed by the firm ofDelano & Aldrich, was completed in 1913.[8]
The estate was designated aNational Historic Landmark in 1976.[1][9] In 1979, its occupant,Nelson Rockefeller, bequeathed upon his death his one-third interest in the estate to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Today, Kykuit is open to the public for tours conducted byHistoric Hudson Valley.[10]
Kykuit was designed originally as a steep-roofed three-story stone mansion by the architectsChester Holmes Aldrich andWilliam Adams Delano.[8] Aldrich was a distant relative ofAbby Aldrich Rockefeller, wife of John Rockefeller's sonJohn D. Rockefeller Jr.; Abby was involved as artistic consultant and in the interior design of the mansion.[citation needed] The initial eclectic building took six years to complete, but Mrs. Rockefeller did not like the resulting structure, and it was substantially rebuilt into its present four-storyClassical Revival Georgian form.[11] Completed in 1913,[8] it has two basement levels filled with interconnecting passageways and service tunnels.[12][9] The home's interiors were designed byOgden Codman Jr., and feature collections of Chinese and Europeanceramics, fine furnishings, and 20th-century art.
Kykuit was renovated and modernized in 1995 by New Haven architect Herbert S. Newman and Partners. Included were major infrastructure changes enabling the estate to accommodate group tours of the first floor and art gallery, as well as a reconfiguration of third and fourth floor staff quarters into guest suites.
Initially, the task of landscaping of the grounds was assigned to theOlmsted Brothers firm. Rockefeller Senior was unhappy with their work, however, and assumed control of the design himself, transplanting whole mature trees, designing lookouts and the several scenic winding roads. In 1906, the further design of Kykuit's grounds was undertaken by architectWilliam Welles Bosworth, who designed the surroundingterraces and gardens with fountains,pavilions and classical sculpture. These gardens in theBeaux-Arts style are considered some of Bosworth's best work in the United States, looking out over very fine views of theHudson River. A few years later, Bosworth would design the Neo-Classical main building complex and landscaping for the newcampus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology inCambridge, Massachusetts.
Bosworth's original gardens still exist, with plantings carefully replaced over time, although his entrance forecourt was extended in 1913. The terraced gardens include a Morning Garden, Grand Staircase, Japanese Garden, Italian Garden, Japanese-style brook, Japanese Tea-house, largeOceanus fountain, Temple ofAphrodite,loggia, and semicircular rose garden.[citation needed]
Distributed through the estate are numerous artworks reflecting the tastes of the past occupants. GovernorNelson Rockefeller collected and displayed many 20th century artworks, with a focus on abstract works from the 1950s through the 1970s. He was also very influential in the selection of artworks for theGovernor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza Art Collection, located next to the New York State Capitol inAlbany, New York.[13]
Nelson Rockefeller transformed previously empty basement passages beneath the mansion that had led to agrotto into a major private art gallery[12] containing paintings byPicasso,Chagall, andWarhol, the latter two having visited the estate.[citation needed] Between 1935 and the late 1970s more than 120 works of abstract, avant-garde, and modern sculpture from Nelson's collection were added to the gardens and grounds, including works by Pablo Picasso (Bathers),Constantin Brâncuși,Karel Appel (Mouse on Table),Jean Arp,Alexander Calder,Alberto Giacometti,Georg Kolbe (Ruf der Erde),Gaston Lachaise,Aristide Maillol,Henry Moore,Louise Nevelson,Isamu Noguchi (Black Sun), andDavid Smith.[citation needed]
The inner park area was opened to restricted conducted tours of the mansion and immediate surrounds in 1994, but remains occupied and controlled by theRockefeller Brothers Fund, which leased the area from the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1991 and serves as steward of what is referred to as "the historic area".[citation needed]
Public tours are conducted byHistoric Hudson Valley, an organization established in 1951 byJohn D. Rockefeller Jr. "to celebrate the region's history, architecture, landscape, and material culture, advancing its importance and thereby assuring its preservation."[14] Shuttle vans run from a visitor center located at thePhilipsburg Manor House on Route 9 inSleepy Hollow, New York.
The estate is formally called Pocantico or Pocantico Hills, but is usually referred to by the name of its mansion, Kykuit. It occupies an area of 1,380 hectares (3,410 acres). During much of the 20th century, the 1,420 hectares (3,510 acres) estate featured a resident workforce of security guards, gardeners, and laborers, and had its own farming, cattle, and food supplies. It has a nine-hole, reversible golf course, and at one time had 75 houses and 70 private roads, most designed by John D. Rockefeller Sr. and his son. A longstanding witticism about the estate quips: "It's what God would have built, if only He had the money".
In 1901, John D. Rockefeller Sr. hired golf course architect Willie Dunn, the designer ofShinnecock Hills Golf Club, to build a golf course on the grounds.[15]
In late 1946, two of Junior's sons,John D. Rockefeller III andLaurance Rockefeller, each offered their respective residences, Fieldwood Farm and Rockwood Hall, as headquarters for the then newly formedUnited Nations. Family patriarch Rockefeller Junior vetoed the proposals, as the sites were too isolated from Manhattan. He instead tasked his second son, Nelson, to buy a 6.9-hectare (17-acre) site along theEast River in New York City, which was subsequently donated for the construction of theUN Headquarters.[16]
Among guests hosted by Nelson and his brotherDavid have been American PresidentsLyndon B. Johnson,Richard M. Nixon,Gerald Ford, andRonald Reagan, and their wives. Other notable visitors have included United Nations Secretary-GeneralKofi Annan, President of the Republic of South AfricaNelson Mandela, Shah of IranMohammad Reza Pahlavi,King Hussein of Jordan, PresidentAnwar Sadat of Egypt, andLord Mountbatten of Burma of the United Kingdom.[17]
As of 2003[update], 10 or so Rockefeller families lived within the estate, in the central compound and beyond. Much land has been donated over the decades to New York State, including theRockefeller State Park Preserve, and is open to the public for horseback riding, biking, and jogging.
The private Rockefeller burial ground at Kykuit abuts, but is not part of, the publicSleepy Hollow Cemetery.[18] The plot is reserved for members of theJohn D. Rockefeller Jr. branch of the family. Family members and descendants ofWilliam Rockefeller Jr. are buried atRockwood Circle in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.
Within the park:
Outside the park:
Additionally, family members have had a profound effect on the hamlet of Pocantico Hills, which is situated in the open space of the estate completely surrounded by family-owned land. TheUnion Church of Pocantico Hills, now owned byHistoric Hudson Valley, was built by the Rockefeller family, which commissioned stained-glass windows byMatisse (an abstractrose window, memorializing Abby Aldrich) and byChagall (the remainder of the windows, emphasizing Biblical prophets and someNew Testament themes, and memorializing various members of the family and others). They also helped finance the construction of the local Pocantico Hills School.
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