Scarborough Historic District (Tour) - Clio

Entries on This Tour

1. Scarborough School

The Scarborough School, located in the Village of Briarcliff Manor in Westchester County, NY, was a prestigious academic institution that first began in the homes of the Harden and Vanderlip families before quickly expanding into a number of architecturally significant buildings along Route 9. The first of the buildings was commissioned in 1917 by Frank and Narcissa Vanderlip, wealthy advocates of progressive education and public causes, for the education of their own children and their nieces and nephews, along with children from the surrounding area. In operation until 1978, the Scarborough School was sold to the Clear View School, which, since 1981, has been offering academic and therapeutic programs here for students living with mental illness and emotional disabilities. The former Scarborough School is located in the Scarborough Historic District, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

Beechwood is an historic estate complex located just east of the Hudson River shoreline in the hamlet of Scarborough in Westchester County, NY. Since its original construction in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, it has had several owners and numerous additions, some designed by prominent architects, including Robert H. Robertson and William Welles Bosworth. From the 1850s to the 1890s, Beechwood was the summer home of the Remsen family, whose patriarch, Henry Remsen, along with his son, Henry Rutgers Remsen, had been respected New York City businessmen. Through connections by marriage, Beechwood was afterwards acquired by Henry Walter Webb, vice president of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad. In 1906, it was purchased by Frank Vanderlip, who three years later became president of the National City Bank of New York, the largest bank in the country at the time. The Vanderlip family was responsible for expanding the Beechwood property to125 acres, ultimately selling much of it off in the 1980s. As of 2022, Beechwood serves as a 37-unit condominium complex. Beechwood is included in the Scarborough Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

3. Sparta Cemetery

The oldest burial ground in the Town of Ossining, Sparta Cemetery was established before the Revolutionary War as the burial place for a Presbyterian congregation that is now called the First Presbyterian Church of Ossining. The land on which the cemetery is located was given to the Presbyterians by Frederick Philipse, lord of Philipsburg Manor. The earliest known burial in the cemetery dates to 1764, while the most recent interment was made here in 2007. The cemetery contains an interesting collection of sandstone and marble tombstones that mark the graves of some of Ossining's early residents.

4. Scarborough Presbyterian Church

The Scarborough Presbyterian Church is located on three acres near the intersection of Albany Post Road and Scarborough Road in Briarcliff Manor, New York, on property that had once belonged to Elliott Fitch Shepard and his wife, Margaret Louisa Vanderbilt. It is part of a complex of historic buildings that includes: the church, which was designed by the firm of Haydel and Shepard and completed in 1895 to replace the Shepard’s smaller family church; the church house, designed by Augustus Shepard and donated by Mrs. Shepard in 1908; a manse, also contributed by Margaret Shepard, and designed by William C. Holden in 1913; and two carriage barns that date to the last half of the nineteenth century. The parish has been serving congregants, and members of the Briarcliff and Ossining communities, for over 125 years in its beautifully preserved buildings, that also include an 1890s Odell organ. The Scarborough Presbyterian Church is located in the Scarborough Historic District, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

5. Sleepy Hollow Country Club

The Sleepy Hollow Country Club is located on 200+ acres of scenic Hudson River-adjacent property in the Village of Briarcliff Manor in Westchester County, NY. Included in the Scarborough Historic District, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, the complex comprises a number of historically significant buildings. The clubhouse, formerly the main residence of the “Woodlea” estate of Elliott Fitch Shepard and Margaret Vanderbilt Shepard, was designed in the Renaissance Revival style in the 1890s by the firm of McKim, Mead, and White. Purchased in 1910 by Frank A. Vanderlip (vice president of First National Bank), the following year it was sold to a consortium of wealthy individuals who converted the property and grounds into the Sleepy Hollow Country Club, which continues to own and run it as of 2022.

6. St Mary's Episcopal Church of Scarborough

St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Scarborough, NY was completed in 1851 and based on the design of the English St. Mary's church in Scarborough, North Yorkshire which was constructed in 1180. It has a simple and austere design but is adorned with a large stain glass windows by John Bolton. John and his older brother William were pioneers in the production of stain glass in this country. St Mary's Church, unfortunately, shut down in 2015.

This Tour is a Virtual Museum or Site Tour.

Scarborough Historic District

Created by Westchester County Historical Society on December 8th 2021, 3:55:05 pm.

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Description

The Scarborough Historic District is located in the unincorporated community of Scarborough-on-Hudson in Westchester County, NY, between the villages of Sleepy Hollow and Ossining. It encompasses 376 acres, straddling the towns of both Ossining and Mount Pleasant. In 1984, when the Scarborough Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it included three estates, one school complex, one cemetery, and two religious properties. In 1990, however, one of the estates, Rosemont, an 1840 Greek Revival property, was lost to demolition. The majority of the remaining properties in the Scarborough Historic District date to the mid-1800s and extend into the first half of the twentieth century. They represent an array of different architectural styles and serve as reminders of a time when the area was more rural and sparsely developed.

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