A walk to Sparta Cemetery – Around the Scarborough Presbyterian Church

by Posted in Buildings/Structures, Churches Leave a comment
scarboroughpresbyterian-1-of-3

According to Wikipedia:

Scarborough Presbyterian Church is the third-oldest in Briarcliff Manor., and has a 2.75-acre (1.11 ha) property. The church has its origins with Elliott Fitch Shepard and his wife Margaret Louisa Vanderbilt Shepard purchasing a roadhouse on the Albany Post Road. In 1892, after enlarging and remodeling the store, adding diamond-paned windows and replacing the floors and porches, the building was first used as a church. The church’s organization meeting was held with nineteen charter members.

After Elliott Fitch Shepard’s death in March 1893, Margaret donated the present church building and manse. The Spanish Renaissance-style church was designed by Augustus Haydel (a nephew of Stanford White) and August D. Shepard (a nephew of Elliott Shepard and of William Rutherford Mead. The two nephews later designed the 1899 Fabbri Mansion in Manhattan. The church’s cornerstone was laid on October 13, 1893. During construction of the building’s foundation, workers found quicksand, though Shepard was intent on constructing the church there and had the construction workers dig 30 feet into the ground to find firm ground for the foundation. European workers were brought to the site to aide in the building’s construction. The Italian Renaissance Revival building was of limestone delivered from Indiana by railroad, requiring a special track laid at Scarborough to accommodate the delivery. The completed church was dedicated on May 11, 1895, in memory of Elliott Fitch Shepard. It was briefly known as Shepard Memorial Church. The dedication was attended by Cornelius Vanderbilt II, Frederick W. Vanderbilt, Chauncey Depew, William Sloane of W. & J. Sloane, William Seward Webb, H. Walter Webb, and James A. Burden Jr.

It was built of pink granite rubble with limestone trim, with a steeple supported by flying buttresses. The interior has mosaic tile floors, fluted pilasters with gilded capitals, a coffered ceiling made of redwood, and stained-glass windows. The church’s 1,498-pipe organ was constructed around 1894; it was the first all-electric action organ in the world. The 3-acre (1.2 ha) church property also contains the church’s carriage house, used for offices, and the parish house, designed by Augustus D. Shepard and completed in 1908.

From 1929 to 1974, the Scarborough Engine Company of the Briarcliff Manor Fire Department had its first firehouse in the church’s garage building or barn, which is older than the church building itself.

Since around 1995, the church has run the Scarborough Presbyterian Children’s Center, a non-denominational preschool housed in a building next door to the church, with an outdoor playground nearby. The preschool serves families in Briarcliff Manor and Scarborough, Ossining, Tarrytown, Sleepy Hollow, Pocantico Hills, and Pleasantville.

In 1995, some of the church was renovated; in 2002, the building was more fully renovated due to years of floodwater and runoff damage, including floods from Hurricane Floyd.

scarboroughpresbyterian-2-of-3

scarboroughpresbyterian-3-of-3

Taken with a Sony DSC-H50

A walk to Sparta Cemetery – Ashridge

by Posted in Buildings/Structures Leave a comment
ashridge-1-of-1

As you descend from the corner of Scarborough and Holbrook Roads toward Route 9 you may have noticed a large house that looks like something out of “Gone with the Wind” on your left.
It’s called Ashridge and it stands at 508 Scarborough Road.

An interesting fact: the house was not originally in its present location. It originally stood on Albany Post Road near Saint Mary’s Church. The house, which is thought to have been built by George Swords around 1825, was sold in 1862 by J. Butler Wright to C.C. North for $500 with the understanding that it be moved within a certain time. It was taken down in sections, carefully marked, loaded on sledges and hauled up the hill over the snow. North called his new home Ashridge, because the only large tree on the ridge was an ash. Butler Wright’s own fine house (Weskora) near the original site of Ashridge, part of which is said to have dated from 1779, served as the golf house and, at times, the main clubhouse of the Sleepy Hollow Country Club, until it was torn down in the 1960s. (Adapted from Mary Cheever, The Changing Landscape: A History of Briarcliff-Manor Scarborough – copies available for sale at the Briarcliff-Manor Historical Society, 1 Library Road, Briarcliff Manor for the special price of $20.).

In 1910 Giles and Flora Whiting bought the estate from C.C. North as a country home to go with their New York City apartment. He was an architect and manufacturer of Persian rugs and his wife was the daughter of Louis E. Ettlinger, a printing magnate and the president of Crowell Publishing Co.

The Whitings added two wings on either side of the main house and bought more of the surrounding property, bringing the estate to about 400 acres. Many pieces of their furniture from Ashridge can now be seen in the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
For more on Flora Whiting see this piece on the Briarcliff Manor-Scarborough Historical Society website:

In 1972, Thomas and Martha Shearman bought the estate and extended nearby Law Road, creating 40 building lots that were then sold. Martha was a professional decorator and many of her touches, such as the hand-painted Chinese wallpaper in the dining room, can still be seen in the house.

Other architectural details at Ashridge include a covered porch and sunroom with slate flooring, French doors, original hardwood floors, antique oak and pine paneling and a huge foyer that runs from the front door to the back. The master suite on the second floor remains one of the most impressive parts of the house. It boasts a large bedroom, two sitting areas, an indoor veranda and a full terrace.” (Journal News 12 24/25 2005).

In early 2016, filming for the Amazon Studios series Crisis in Six Scenes featured Ashridge. Scenes from the movie American Gangster were also filmed there.

Taken with a Sony DSC-H50