Andrea U.
Yelp
I grew up across the street from Untermyer Park when it was rumored that Son of Sam was killing animals here. Although it had an impressive history the park was in disrepair and considered dangerous.
Waring owned the largest hat factory in the U.S.; in 1865 he bought 33 acres of land from the Bolmer estate, and had architect John Davis Hatch build a turreted 99 room mansion called "Greystone". Samuel J. Tilden, bought it building 13 greenhouses to grow ornamental plants as well as fruits & vegetables. He died here & the property was auctioned in 1899.
Samuel Untermyer was a lawyer, a partner in the firm of Guggenheimer, Untermyer & Marshall, purchasing the 133-acre property. He was the first American lawyer to win a $1,000,000 case. He became extremely wealthy & took cases which involved promoting the public welfare. Untermyer hired Bosworth, a École des Beaux Arts trained architect & landscape designer. Bosworth created a greenhouse, the Walled Garden, the Vista, the Color Gardens, the Rose Garden, the Vegetable Gardens, and the Temple of Love, perched on a rocky promontory. The Walled Garden is a 3-acre "Indo-Persian kind of garden" inspired by the Agra Fort in India. The garden opens to views of the Hudson River & Palisades. The large rectangular limestone gate is topped by a relief of Artemis. Untermyer Gardens was nationally famous, with great gardeners training here. In it's heyday the estate had 60 greenhouses & employed 60 gardeners. In 1940, Untermyer died, he planning to donate his gardens & mansion. Upkeep was too expensive & the U.S., NYS & Yonkers all refused. In 1946, the mansion was torn down and 16 acres was given to the City of Yonkers.
Since 2011, the Untermyer Gardens Conservancy & the Yonkers Parks Dept. have been restoring the gardens with NYS grants. There is a head gardener and 6 full time gardeners. Yoga, family movie evenings and events are are now offered in these majestic gardens. The gardens are clean, appear safe and are free!