Rockefeller Pocantico Hills Estate Historic District (Tour)

1. Kykuit, the John D. Rockefeller Estate

The home for four generations of the Rockefeller family, Kykuit was built for John D. Rockefeller, Sr., scion of Standard Oil and richest man in the world during his lifetime. The house and extensive gardens are the design of architect William Welles Bosworth, who worked collaboratively with John D. Rockefeller Jr.on the construction. Completed in 1913, the estate contains several outbuildings including a Coach Barn, Playhouse and an Orangerie. The home contains collections of Asian ceramics, fine furnishings and 20th century art. The last family occupant, Nelson Rockefeller, bequeathed his portion of the estate to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. His two brothers David and Laurance did the same at their deaths.

2. Stone Barns Complex (Historic "Farm Barns")

Centrally located within the Rockefeller Pocantico Hills Estate Historic District is the former farm complex of the estate. This stone barn complex was designed by the noted architect Grosvenor Atterbury in consultation with John D. Rockefeller Jr. and two of his sons, Nelson Rockefeller and John D. Rockefeller III. Commissioned in 1930, the Norman-style farm group consists of a horse stable, hay barn, cow barn, silos, garages, and offices.Adaptively restored in 2004 by David Rockefeller in memory of his wife Peggy, the buildings are now the site of the non-profit Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture and contains the Michelin star restaurant Blue Hill.

3. Historic Rockwood Hall (Remaining sections)

The historic district encompasses the National Historic Landmark listing for Kykuit which contains 250 acres and unifies all the remaining intact features of the Rockefeller family's Pocantico Hills estate, including the remaining portions of Rockwood Hall, into one comprehensive district.Rockwood Hall once belonged to William A. Rockefeller, who purchased the estate from the Aspinwall family in 1886. He enlarged the existing stone mansion on the Hudson River, where he also constructed a private power plant, railroad siding and dock. The estate eventually contained 1000 acres with two large stables, gate houses, farm houses, greenhouses and miles of pleasure roads.The Rockwood Hall Estate was subsumed by the adjacent Pocantico Hills estate following William Rockefeller's death.The 204-room stone villa was demolished in 1941-42. What remains today are the designed landscape around it and the carriage paths which connected the property to the lands to the east developed by John D. Rockefeller Sr. and son.

4. Carriage Road Network and Landscape (Rockefeller Pocantico Hills Estate Historic District)

The Rockefeller Pocantico Hills Estate Historic District is an expansive historic landscape that was developed in the later nineteenth and early twentieth century on land owned by the Rockefeller family. The historic landscape, which now includes both public and private land holdings, reflects the family's development of more than 3,000 acres of land on the southwest bank of the Hudson River that was once the two adjoining properties of John D. Rockefeller Sr. and his younger brother and Standard Oil business associate, William A. Rockefeller. The signature physical feature of the district is its system of interrelated carriage roads. The carriage roads progress through open fields and meadows bordered by stone walls, alongside water features, and over hills and ridges. The network connects the family's Neo-Georgian house, Kykuit together with its surrounding park and the Rockwood Hall estate of William Rockefeller, which was subsumed by the Pocantico Hills estate after his death. Also included in the district is the farm complex, now the non-profit Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. The Rockwood Hall property and several thousand acres are now part of the NY Rockfeller State Park Preserve. The family home Kykuit and the surrounding 250 acre park is open to the public and owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.The Rockefeller Pocantico Hills Estate Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2019. The address used for this entry is the entrance and Visitors Center for the Rockefeller State Park Preserve.

5. Hudson Pines (Rockefeller Pocantico Hills Estate)

Hudson Pines was designed by architect Mott Schmidt for Abby Rockefeller Milton in 1938 and later owned by her brother, David Rockefeller. The house is in the Georgian Revival-style typical of many of Schmidt's designs. In addition to the main house, there is a brick carriage house, a horse barn, a playhouse, an automobile garage, a swimming pool, greenhouses and an office. The property also includes staff housing, pasture land, meadows, specimen gardens, an apple orchard and a helicopter pad.

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Rockefeller Pocantico Hills Estate Historic District

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