Halcyon Place Historic District

The Halcyon Place Historic District in Yonkers is located just blocks from the Hudson River and Warburton Avenue to the west, and the Old Croton Aqueduct and North Broadway to the east. It is a well-preserved cul-de-sac development of twelve frame and masonry houses, all constructed by developer Harry Woodhouse between 1901 and 1924. Mr. Woodhouse, a Yonkers carpenter and builder, engaged different architects for the houses, which were designed in the Shingle, American Foursquare, and Mission styles popular during the early twentieth century. The houses in the district, which remain largely intact, reflect the change from the more elaborate architecture of the late Victorian period to the simpler and more affordable houses sought by the growing middle class in Yonkers at that time. The Halcyon Place Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

By the 1890s, Yonkers had become one of the largest cities in New York State with a growing number of very successful factories, businesses, and commercial areas. To house the expanding population, affordable residential options were needed since the cost of both land and construction were steadily rising at this time. Changes in architectural styles coincided with new approaches to housing accommodations that made homes more affordable for the middle class. While large estates typical of the Gilded Age continued to be built around the city, more practical and less expensive houses with smaller footprints also appeared in a number of desirable areas, including near the Hudson River, North Broadway, and Warburton Avenue where the Halcyon Place Historic District is located. 

In 1900, Harry Woodhouse, a Yonkers carpenter and builder, purchased a two-acre estate at 272 Warburton Avenue that had belonged to Roswell Douglass Sawyer. Woodhouse began his transformation of the area by tearing down the existing house, clearing the land, and laying out a new street. The new street, Halcyon Place, was deeded to the City of Yonkers in January of 1901. 

Woodhouse divided the lots on Halcyon Place into 40-by-100-foot sections. He worked with different architects to construct solid, modest houses in a variety of styles, including Queen Anne, Shingle, and Colonial Revival. All of the residences are uniformly set back from the front lot line approximately 25 feet. The houses all face one another on the cul-de-sac, creating a sense of enclosure, not unlike what the gatehouses and walls of previous sprawling estates had served to do.

The houses in the Halcyon Place Historic District, beginning with one of the first completed, Number 10, attracted middle-class professionals, who valued the easy walk to Warburton Avenue and the downtown trolley. The neighborhood is also very close to North Broadway, a major north-south road, separated by what was previously the Old Croton Aqueduct and is now the Old Croton Trailway State Park. 

Despite the extensive alteration to the fabric of the surrounding area over the past century and a quarter, the twelve private residences of the Halcyon Place Historic District remain largely intact. Their high-quality workmanship and design continue to reflect a distinctive historic character. The Halcyon Place Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

1. “Halycon Historic District #90002145.” National Register of Historic Places. United States Department of the Interior/National Park Service. 1985. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75323043 
2. Rebic, Michael P., ed. James D. Keen, Doris B. Keen. Landmarks Lost & Found: An Introduction to the Architecture and History of Yonkers. Yonkers, NY: Yonkers Planning Bureau and the Yonkers Environmental Impact Advisory Commission. 1986.
3. “Recent Additions to the National Register.” The Westchester Historian: Quarterly of the Westchester County Historical Society. Vol. 67, No. 2. 1991.
4. Williams, Gray. Picturing Our Past: National Register Sites in Westchester County. Westchester County Historical Society. 2003.