Originally designed as his own home, today the James Rose Center serves as the headquarters of a non-profit educational foundation, the mission of which is to improve the environment through research, education, preservation and design.
I recently toured the James Rose House with members of the Ridgewood Historical Museum. We had a lecture on the house and James Rose’s work in the industry as an architect and the other projects he had worked on over the years before his death in 1991.
The lecture was followed by a tour of the house with the group and then a small lecture and tour with the guide. We got to see the whole house, what he was trying to achieve in the design and the renovation work on the house as it is in pretty bad shape. The materials that were used to build the house were not the best quality and have rotted over the years. There is a lot of restoration work on the house that is needed.
We were able to walk all around the house and what struck me was the use of nature in the design of the house. He used the trees and brook on the property to achieve the aesthetic of the design of the house but over the years it has been used against it as the trees have either grown too big around the house or have died, in which one did and caused thousands of dollars of damage on the house. Still, it was an interesting tour of how the house was used as a studio and a family home for him, his mother and unmarried sister.
History:
James Rose (1913-1991) was a maverick landscape architect whose rebellious nature caused one writer to refer him as the “James Dean of Landscape Architecture.” Here Rose created a unique work of art fusing modern sculpture, architecture and landscape into a single unified place for living.
(Information from the Center’s pamphlet)
For its unique modern spatial language, its expression of an alternative approach to conventional post war suburban residential development and as the constantly changing laboratory of one of landscape architecture’s most inventive minds, the Ridgewood home of James Rose is one of the twentieth century’s most important landscapes.
The Front of the house
The Vision:
Rose began the design while in Okinawa during World War II with a model he made from scrapes found in construction battalion headquarters. “I wanted the spaces flowing easily from one to another, divided for privacy and for convenience.” Rose wrote in 1943. “I wanted the arrangement flexible and varied. Most of all, I wanted all this integrated with the site in a design that seemed to grow, to mature and to review itself as all living things do.”
The Reality:
Constructed in 1953, Rose described his home as a “tiny village” build on an area half the size of a tennis court. It was a composite of three buildings-a main house for his mother, a guesthouse for his sister and a studio for himself. This experimental landscape achieves a fusion of indoors and outdoors perhaps unequaled by other leading designers of this time. Rose later described it as “neither landscape nor architecture, but both; neither indoors, nor outdoors but both.”
The Metamorphosis:
It was conceived to accommodate rapid twentieth century charge. “I decided to go at the construction as you might a painting or sculpture.” Rose wrote. “I set the basic armature of walls and roofs and open spaces to establish their relationships but left it free in detail to allow for improvisation. In that way it would never be “finished,” but constantly evolving from one stage to the next-ametamorphosis,” Rose wrote, “such as we find commonly in nature.”
Consistent with this, the design changed dramatically during the almost forty years Rose lived here. From 1961, when Rose was invited by the Japanese government to participate in a World Design Conference (WoDeCo), he founded a mirror to his modern American design sensibility in the ancient culture of Japan. In changes such as the addition of the roof garden and zendo in the early 1970’s a fusion of ancient East and modern West is effected as Rose compares the filigrees of plant forms to the filigrees of structure. “In the bare architecture outline is a pattern of organic (rather than cosmetic) decoration and an inter division of space.”
The Reincarnation:
Unfortunately in the eighties this remarkable design, built to accommodate rapid growth went into rapid disrepair. Neglect, fire and water damage threatened complete destruction until a foundation was established by Rose, Dean Cardasis and a few of Rose’s close friends was formed just before Rose’s death in 1991. In 1993 the rehabilitation of this important property began and continues to this day. The site serves students, scholars and the general public in its new life as the James Rose Center for Landscape Architectural Research and Design.
The rehabilitation reversed rampant deterioration of the previous decade. Support systems were revamped. Fire damage was repaired. The leaking roof was rebuilt and Rose’s roof garden was reconstructed. Salvageable wood was reconditioned and woven with new lumber. Garden pools were rebuilt and important planting edges re-established. Murals and other original artwork were reconditioned. Through the center’s ongoing efforts, Rose’s enduring creation has entered a new stage of its metamorphosis from which it will continue to evolve.
But it remains consistent with its origins as a important modern work and serves the same larger purpose it always had for Rose to pose for us elemental questions about the nature of design. “Change is the essence,” Rose observed. “To reveal what is always there is the trick. The metamorphosis is seen minute by minute, season by season, year by year. Through this looking glass, ‘finish’ is another word for death.”
(Ridgewood-James Rose Center History)
James Rose, landscape theorist, author and practitioner
Along with Garrett Eckbo and Dan Kiley, James C. Rose was one of the leaders of the modern movement in American landscape architecture. Rose was only five years old when his father died and with his mother and older sister, moved to New York City from rural Pennsylvania. He never graduated from high school (because he refused to take music and mechanical drafting) but nevertheless managed to enroll in architecture courses at Cornell University. A few years later he transferred as a special student to Harvard University to study landscape architecture. He was soon expelled from Harvard in 1937 for refusing to design landscapes in the Beaux Arts manner.
The design experiments for which he was expelled served as a basis for a series of provocative articles expounding modernism in landscape design, published in 1938 and 1939 in Pencil Points magazine (now Progressive Architecture). Subsequently Rose authored many other articles, including a series with Eckbo and Kiley as well as four books which advance both the theory and practice of landscape architecture in the twentieth century.
Rose was employed briefly in New York City in 1941 as a landscape architecture by Tuttle, Seelye, Place and Raymond where he worked on the design of a staging area to house thirty thousand men to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. For a short time, Rose had a sizable practice of his own in New York City but he quickly decided that large-scale public and corporate work would impose too many restrictions on his creative freedom and devoted most of his post WWII career to the design of private gardens.
Fusion of indoor and outdoor space:
In 1953, he began building one of his most significant designs, the Rose residence in Ridgewood, New Jersey. Rose conceived of the design while stationed in Okinawa, Japan in 1943. He made the first model from scraps found in construction battalion headquarters. After construction, the design was published in the December 1954 issue of Progressive Architecture, juxtaposed to the design for a traditional Japanese house built in the garden of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City; the article cites Rose’s design for its spatial discipline. The design clearly expresses Rose’s idea of fusion between indoor and outdoor space as well as his notion that modern environmental design must be flexible between indoor and outdoor space as well as his notion that modern environmental design must be flexible to allow for changes in the environment as well as in the in the lives of its users.
Practice based on improvisation:
From 1953 until his death, Rose based an active professional practice in his home. Like Thomas Church and many others. Rose practiced a form of design/build because it gave him control over the finished work and allowed him to spontaneously improvise with the sites of his gardens. As a result of this, most examples also exist in Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, California and abroad.
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Establishment of a landscape research and design study center:
James C. Rose was one of the most colorful figures in twentieth century landscape design. While skeptical of most institutions during his lifetime he served as guest lecturer and visiting critic at numerous landscape architecture and architecture schools. Before he died he set in motion an idea which had been in his mind for forty years; the establishment of a landscape research and design study center and created a foundation to support the transformation of his Ridgewood residence for this purpose. Rose died in his home in 1991 of cancer.
Hours: Open Thursday-Sunday: 11:00am-5:00pm (the last tour is at 4:00pm)/Open Monday Holidays from April 19th to October 28th. The mansion then closes to prepare for the holiday season. Closed on Thanksgiving and Easter. There are special programs from January to April so please see the website.
Admission: $8.00 for adults/$6.00 for groups and Seniors/Children under 12 are free. Special events have separate fees and can run from $8.00 to $10.00 and above.
I have been a Friend of the Mills Mansion for about five years and have attended many special events at the mansion including their Afternoon Tea & Lectures, the Annual Meeting and Talk, The Holiday Party and the Isadora Duncan Dance and Reception. Their events are a lot of fun and are very engaging. It also includes a tour of the mansion which is very interesting. Try to get on one of their theme tours.
The Friends of Mills Mansion Meeting on April 2019
Their Special Events:
I recently attended their Summer fundraiser “Sunset on the Terrace”, an evening of cocktails, appetizers and music. On a beautiful sunny evening, there is nothing like it. We were entertained by the Perry Beekman Trio with an assortment of jazz music while passed hot and cold appetizers were passed around the room. It is a relaxing night of light food and cocktails and wine while chatting with members as the sun sets on the mansion’s terrace. Now I know why the Mills loved this house so much.
Another event I have attended over the past few years has been their “Christmas Cocktail Party” that is held in the formal dining room which is decorated for a Victorian Christmas.
Mill’s Mansion at the holidays is spectacular
What is nice is that everyone is dressed in suits or tuxes for the evening and like its Summer counterpart, it is a evening of light appetizers both passed and on the tables, light desserts and an assortment of wines from a local vineyard.
The Mills Mansion Holiday Party in 2018
The “Winter Lectures & Teas” have gotten more interesting over the years. The tables are laden with tea sandwiches, scones and small cakes and the Staatsburg blend of tea. They are always refilling everything for you and I have seen some big eaters at the table. The lectures this year were on various subjects taking place during the Victorian era that included “Bicycling and the Women’s Movement”, “Masquerade Balls during the Season” and “Etiquette & Calling Cards during a Social Visit” by visiting lecturers from colleges or local historians.
I have been a Friend of the Mills Mansion now for about four years finding that I was going to a lot of their events it just made it easier to join and get priority on their special events which are enjoyable. The ‘Halloween Tea’ was one of them the opened the holiday season.
The slide show as we were about to begin the lecture
The table set for the Halloween Tea
The guests arriving for the Halloween Afternoon Tea
The friendly witches getting ready to greet guests
This event was a tea and lecture of how the Victorians recreated Halloween from a dark more countryside evening wrapped in mystery to an engaging urban event with costumes, specialty foods and traditional events like apple bobbing that guests then made their own. Local Historian Carol Kohan discussed how the event went from a dark rural event to fun and engaging holiday.
The celebration was spooky and fun
From the old traditions to new ones
The Victorian’s made everything elaborate and overdone and the Halloween celebrations were ‘taken up a notch’ with elaborate costumes, parties, bonfires and desserts and candies that were to be served. There were special invitations and cards that were to sent and rules of etiquette.
The Ghosts and Ghouls of the holidays
Following the Civil War and at a time when disease was not understood the way it is now, there was an interest in spiritualism and seances were in vague as people want to reach out to their loved ones. So having a medium at a party was part of the activity. The Victorians knew how to transform a holiday.
The Menu for the afternoon
Our tables numbers on the table
During the discussion, we enjoyed an afternoon tea of the specialty Staatsburg Tea blend, a variety of finger sandwiches, pumpkin and cranberry scones and many types of pastries including mini pumpkin cheesecakes, tiny devil’s food cupcakes and assorted sweet cookies. The caterer always does a nice job with the food and service here.
The food at these function are excellent and plentiful. These were the current and raison scones
The Assorted delicious Tea Sandwiches
Sweets and cakes Afternoon tea here is wonderful
The estate in the Fall of 2024
The estate during the Fall of 2024
The last lecture I went to before things shut down in February 2020 was on “Masquerade Balls of the Gilded Age” which was very interesting. The enormous amount of money that was spent on a one night affair is almost mind boggling. The Vanderbilt Ball alone cost almost three million dollars in today’s money.
These were not just social occasions but a change to show off your wealth and creativity. It was what money could buy back then before the coming of personal and income tax and the Great Depression. The speaker discussed the food and the music and the fact the home was filled with flowers out of season.
The Famous Vanderbilt Ball
She discussed how the balls were created during Roman times in Venice for the start of Carnival (Mardi Gras was the next week) and how they developed during the Renaissance. She then discussed how they played a role in High Society during the Gilded Age and they were considered a little risque at the time. It was a very interesting discussion. As usual, the tea and cakes were delicious and they did a nice job decorating the room.
Hostess Alva Vanderbilt at her famous Ball
The Masked Cocktail Party for Christmas 2022 fundraiser:
The mansion ready for a Christmas party
The Mills Mansion, Staatsburgh, was decked out for the holidays on the night of December 9th, 2022 for a private fundraiser to raise money to replace the curtains in the library on top of other repairs at the mansion. This sold out event was packed the whole evening and was attending by over a 100 people who spilled over into the library and foyer.
Entering the party through the decorated foyer lead to the festivities as it would have during the Gilded Age
The Christmas Tree in the foyer was amazing
There was an open bar with wines and spirits plus water and non-alcoholic choices, passed appetizers with items like gourmet cheese spreads, chicken on a skewer and Christmas cookies. The band was wonderful and played all sorts of contemporary hits as well as Christmas music.
Everyone dressed for the Mills Mansion Ball-The Masquerade Cocktail Party Fundraiser December 9th, 2022
The three main rooms on the top floor were decorated to the hilt for the party
The main dining room was decorated with the theme of masks
People were in a festive mood
The Dining Room table was the focal point of the room
People gathered all over the Dining Room for the event
There was an air of mystery in the Dining Room with everyone wearing masks
The lead singer of the band had the most beautiful 1920’s star outfit
People enjoying themselves in the Dining Room
The Dining Room was packed at the height of the evening
The Band was excellent
The mask decorations were amazing
The party continued in the Library which was also decorated for the holidays
The Library Christmas tree was ablaze the evening of the party
I was only at the party for about an hour but I had a really nice time and I needed it. I had to get my mind off school and with the few drinks and lively conversation mixed with wonderful food, it was an enchanting evening. It was so nice to see people all dressed up again and very age appropriate to the time period. I felt like I had been carried back to the mid-1920’s.
I was also nice to tour the mansion in such a lively time of the day. People were having such a good time.
Visiting the Mansion at the Christmas Holidays:
Don’t miss visiting the Mills Mansion during the Christmas holidays. The house is decked out for a Victorian Christmas even though the Mills did not spend much time at the mansion during the holiday season preferring to live in their New York mansion during the holiday social season.
The holidays are a sumptuous display of the beauty of the Christmas season and a way of showcasing all the nooks and crannies of the house. It showed how Victorians may have enjoyed the holiday season.
The Mills Mansion foyer Christmas tree in December 2022
The foyer was adorned with flowers and garland as you entered the home
The Mills daughter and grandson
The family portrait gallery
The Reception Room between the Foyer and the Dining Room
The Dining Room:
Masks were the theme in December 2022
Masks adorned the Dining Room for Christmas
Still the house is decked out every year with different decorations and the formal dining room has just had the ceiling repaired and new velvet curtains put on the windows. The foyer steps of the older part of the mansion have been repaired with new curtains and rugs as well. Don’t miss seeing the tree in the foyer.
The volunteers are all on staff to answer any questions so feel free to ask about how the Mills entertained and lived in this era. The mansion is so beautifully decorated for the holidays.
The Mills Mansion dining room at Christmas in December 2022
The Dining Room was designed for a Masquerade Ball theme in December 2022
The Butler’s Pantry off the Dining Room for the holidays in December 2022
Still the house is decked out every year with different decorations and the formal dining room has just had the ceiling repaired and new velvet curtains put on the windows. The foyer steps of the older part of the mansion have been repaired with new curtains and rugs as well.
The Library:
The Mills Mansion Library at Christmas in December 2022
The Christmas tree in the library is very elegant
Family portraits in the Library
Down the hall from the Dining Room and the Library are the bedrooms of the hosts of the house, Ruth and Ogden Mills. These elegant bedrooms shared a modern day bathroom.
Ruth’s Private Office:
Ruth conducted her business from her private office. Her portrait sits proudly in the room.
The Bedrooms and Personal Family Space:
Ogden Mills bedroom on the first floor
The modern bathroom at the Mills Mansion
Ruth Mills grand bedroom
The staircase was fully decorated for the holidays as well with garlands and trees
The landing of the staircase to the first floor
The decorated staircase
The mansion’s beautiful gift shop is located at the bottom of the stairs.
In 2020 and 2021: (During COVID)
With the COVID-19 pandemic and outbreak affecting cultural sites all over the United States, New York State has enacted Phase 4 of reopening with the exception of opening museums, restaurants and bars for business so they all have to take it “outside”. That Staatsburg site is no different as the inside of the mansion has remained closed.
That leads to new creativity and ideas of how to show off the mansion and it’s grounds true beauty. The State Park site has now created two different programs for the Summer months, the ‘Landscape Tour’ of the mansion’s former ice house, greenhouse, boat house and walking paths and the ‘Programs on the Portico’, lectures of the mansion’s past starting with a lecture of “Staatsburg’s Servants”.
In 2020, 2021 and 2024 The Landscape Tour:
The mansion in the summer of 2024
The Landscape tour of the property was very interesting as our group strolled through the grounds first to the site of the old ‘icehouse’ by the river, where ice was cut in the wintertime and used for the ‘ice boxes’ in the home which was those days ‘modern refrigeration’. We also visited the site of the ‘boat house’ where water sports by the river started the day and the yachts that used to flow up and down the Hudson River.
The back of the mansion was our first stop of the tour
The extensive back lawn overlooking the Hudson River
The views of the Hudson River on the tour
Views of the lawn by the Hudson River
The views through the trees hide all the buildings on the estate grounds
Taking the pathways to the river front
The pathway to the Ice House and Boat House
The walk by the Hudson River where the old Boat House was located
The Hudson River edge by path where ice was harvested
The woods by the Hudson River
The view of the Hudson River by the old Ice House
We next visited the site of the old Carriage Houses that are now in ruin in the back of the estate. These are overgrown and in need of repair but still show their beauty through these ruins.
The old stables are now ruins on the estate
The garages in ruin in the back of the estate
The site of the stables is now an overgrown woods but once lead to bridle paths around the estate.
Our next stop on the tour were the sites of the old greenhouses that used to supply flowers for the mansion and fruits and vegetables for the kitchen. They disappeared over fifty years ago during WWII when the materials were needed for the war effort. They were never rebuilt. The tour is about 90 minutes.
The site of the old greenhouses of the estate
We ended the tour on the back lawn of the estate, admiring the views of the house and of the river. The views of the lighthouses in the river were just spectacular.
The view of the lighthouse in the distance
The view of the full lawn at the Mills Mansion after the tour
The ‘Programs on the Portico’ lectures started with the theme “Staatsburg’s Servants” later in the afternoon. These 3:00pm lectures on the ‘front porch’ of the mansion are socially distanced and under cool shade.
The front portico of the mansion was used for the Lectures series during the COVID years
The lecture was on items that the servants would use when the family was ‘in residence’ in the warmer months and how they would be used day to day. Items like a hand-cranked ice cream maker and a scoop for desserts, a bottle closer for beverages, a rug cleaner and a meat press for meals were just some of the items displayed and discussed. It was explained how the house would go through a deep cleaning when the family was away and when they were ‘at home’ how the house would be cleaned around them.
The ‘Lectures on the Portico’ series:
On a recent “Lecture on the Portico”, the topic of the “Titanic” was discussed. It seems that Mr. And Mrs. Mills had tickets on the return voyage to Europe from New York. They lost many friends and family members like J.J. Astor on the sinking of the ship. Our lecturer talked about what you would wear, you would eat and how you would dine on the ship and all the protocols of behavior. Between the sinking of the ship and WWI this ended the “Gilded Age” and ushered in the “Jazz Age” after the war was over. All of the these lectures and tours are free.
Exploring the Village of Staatsburgh:
Another tour I was on recently was the “Exploring the Village of Staatsburgh” tour where a small group of us toured the Village of Staatsburgh where the mansion was located and learn about the history of the town. It was taken from the perspective of how the mansion was dependent on it and the town benefited from the Mills family and the people that worked there.
The ‘Walking Tour of Staatsburgh’ is a semi-circle tour of this old hamlet whose fate was changed by the development of the mansions in the late 19th Century, the advent of WWI and WWII and then the coming of the modern era with new highways and less industry which has now created the sleepy village the town has become. Times progress.
We met at the Staatsburgh Library which was a old church at one time.
The beautiful neighborhood gardens by the library.
We visit the homes of the people who lived there like the Head Housekeeper, the Estate Manager and Butler and the footman. It was interesting to see how these people lived when they were not working.
The homes in Staatsburgh were beautifully decorated for the holidays
We learned how the town was created, how the businesses like the railroad and the ice manufacturing businesses were developed and how they grew. We learned a how the town was much more developed before WWII and the effects of the development of Route 9 bypassing the town changed it.
The Stained-glass windows at St. Margaret’s Church were dedicated to members of the Livingston family.
The Stained glass windows at St. Margaret’s Church
The Stained glass windows at St. Margaret’s Church
The back stained glass windows
St, Margaret’s at Christmas time in 2022
The start of the tour after leaving St. Margaret’s Church
We toured through the neighborhood, admiring residents gardens and having discussions on the older homes and buildings in the neighborhood and their significance with the Mills Mansion. A lot of the servants lived in town and built their homes here.
The stone gardens and colorful flowers in the neighborhood
The neighborhood gardens
The green lawns and the golf course in the distance
The gardens of the village
The gardens at the beginning of the tour
A former garage for the parish and former firehouse storage
The view from the top of the road
The fields in Staatsburgh
The former Mills Gardener Home in Staatsburgh
The Telephone Company house and the Handmaid’s home
One of the beautiful Victorian homes in Staatsburgh
The Bath House
The Spite House: the house to stop the road from going through the neighborhood. No one really knew the story of why this happened
The Spite House up close
The Mill’s Mansion Head Housekeeper’s House
The Housekeeper’s Barn with symbol
The Catholic Church in Staatsburgh
The local doctor’s house
The Plan House which were made by premade plans from companies
The River & Post Restaurant was originally a hotel for the Town of Staatsburgh and where Mrs. Mills French chefs stayed when they were working in the mansion
We then entered what was once a thriving business district for the town. Since the railroads closed, Route 9 bypassed the town and industry slowed in this hamlet, this area has become more residential and quiet.
The former pub that is now a residential home. This used to cater to people getting off the train
The house across from the old train station and their beautiful gardens
The houses magnificent gardens in full bloom
The old Methodist Church ‘downtown’
When we were on the tour, we saw how the town progressed from being dependent on the mansions and estates to how businesses like ice harvesting became prominent in the area up until the 1950’s. Our last stop was the old Hughes Department store in the old downtown area which is now a sail store for boating.
The former Hughes Department Store which is at the end of the tour.
The old Hughes Family home right down the road from their store.
We finished the tour in front of the old Hughes family mansion which faces the old downtown. Obviously Mr. Hughes built his home here to make a statement and be able to walk to work.
Back to the starting point at St. Margaret’s Church
The Horse and Dog Fountain that was dedicated to a member of the community that is now used as a planter
The historic state markers on the Albany Post Road were saved by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and were used for mileage and postage along the old highway during Victorian times.
The tour is about an hour and on a sunny I highly recommend it.
Special Members Night with the duo “Acute Inflections”:
As a member, we also had a recent concert on the portico to hear the duo “Acute Inflections” perform on the lawn. We all stayed socially distanced on the lawn but still the concert was nice, and this is what being a member of the Friends group is all about. These small events make a big difference.
The duo “Acute Reflections” performed that day
“Acute Reflections” performing
The “Estates of Staatsburgh Tour”:
Another recent tour I took at the Mills Mansion was the “Estates of Staatsburgh” tour where we visited the abandoned estates of the Lee and the Hoyt families. The Hoyt’s were distant relatives of Ruth Livingston, and their mansion still stands up on a buff in the woods overlooking the Hudson River. The family lived there until the 1960’s when the land and home were sold to the State of New York to create the park.
The abandoned Hoyt Estate will soon be a Visitors Center for the Park
The Lee Mansion burned down in the late 1950’s and all that is left of their estate if the old icehouse, which is the size of a regular home. Most of these old estates we came to find out were self-sufficient with agriculture and light manufacturing.
The Hoyt Mansion in its heyday
We got to see all the back trails to these old estates and the old driveways that once led to them. They have been abandoned since the 1960’s and have almost a spooky appearance of being lost in time. With the foliage in the background, it gave them a Halloween appearance. The tour was very interesting how the Gilded Age didn’t last too long when modern times came into play with income tax.
The filled in decorative pond is one of the things left of the Lee Estate.
The old Horse trough near St. Margaret’s Church
The “First Day Hike Tour” (COVID event):
To ring in 2021, the park had their “First Day Hike tour, ‘Staatsburgh in Winter”. There were two walking tours around the estate. One entitled “Staatsburgh in Winter” which discussed the wintertime fun at the turn of the century and the activities the Mills family enjoyed when they were at the estate in winter months. It seems that Ruth Mills was quite an accomplished figure skater. The family also owned an ice yacht, “The Beatrice” that they rode on the frozen river.
The Mills Mansion New Year’s Day Walking Tours-Me with the dark jacket and white mask
The second tour we took later that afternoon was “When Ice came from the river: Ice Harvesting in the Gilded Age”. We toured the river and the cove areas of the estate and discussed the ice block harvesting business that Mr. Mill’s had on the river. The family ice house could hold 500 tons of ice that was sold down in New York City. It was interesting to see how the process of clearing the snow and cutting the ice into blocks served as refrigeration for thousands of residents before refrigerators came into use.
Both tours our groups walked the back of the estate and the river front along the Hudson River. The tour guide had a long conversation on how the river was used during the Winter and that life continued in a productive way even after the holidays were over. It was a great way to spend the first day of the New Year. The park continues to amaze me in their adaption on running events during the COVID era.
In 2021, the mansion had been opened for the Christmas tours, but I was not able to attend. There was not that much time to run back and forth to the Hudson River Valley but in February 2022 the mansion finally resumed inside tours of the first floor of the mansion to the public.
The mansion looked like it had gone through a deep cleaning as everything looked shiny and new. It would have made Mrs. Mills proud. I was lucky to come up to Staatsburgh during the ‘Spring Thaw’ and it was 56 degrees out so I could enjoy the grounds as well. I learned some new things about how the Butler’s Pantry worked, and we were able to see the ice chests and china and silver that the family used for service. I swear I learn new things on each tour I take here.
The Annual Friends Meeting in April:
The Annual Meeting in 2023:
Our Annual Friends April Meeting in 2023 was a nice time. The Executive Board held the meeting in the Mills Dining Room with all the gilded fixtures as a backdrop. Our President of the Friends, Diane Tompkins gave the report of the successful year we had last year with record breaking attendance. I guess the the show “The Gilded Age” has been helping a lot. A lot of these Upstate mansions are getting a lot of attention now.
Friends President Diane Tompkins giving the report of the organization
It seems that the gift shop is really doing well and is also exceeding its numbers so things have been going well in post-COVID. Both the site director and the Friends Treasurer said we are exceeding our numbers on both attendance, membership and profits in the gift shop will be helping fund restoration projects in the mansion.
After the meeting, we had a light reception both in the Dining Room and on the terrace right off the main Dining Room. What a night! Sunny, warm and clear. It was such a beautiful evening with views of the Hudson River in the background and Spring buds popping all over the estate.
The reception on the terrace of the Mills Mansion
The grounds of the Mills Estate from the terrace
The Hudson River from the terrace
The sun setting over the Hudson River as the reception drew to a close
It was a really nice meeting and reception for the members. I can see that everyone was glad that after COVID that we were able to bounce back and start to exceed after such a rough time.
Mills Mansion Annual Meeting 2026:
I made plans to attend the Annual Meeting in 2026 and was able to make it on a partly sunny afternoon. The weather ended up cooperating and it was a nice drive up and the mansion and ground were really amazing. Everything was just coming into bloom.
Mills Mansion in the Spring
The mansion in the Spring
The estate in the Spring of 2026
Our President Diane Tompkins giving the opening speech
One of the major projects that was just finished was the renovation of the kitchen and the butler’s pantry and ice box rooms. This whole part of the house had not looked like this since the time of the Mills living in the home for the summer months.
The Kitchen renovation project
These rooms had been in bad condition for years so it is interesting to see the interpretation of the kitchen compared in modern times. After our meeting, the Friends and the State workers were going to start to put artifacts back into the rooms for touring.
The Pantry area
The Ice Box area
The Ice Box area display
After the meeting was over, I joined other members for a reception. It nice to sit down and enjoy a drink and have a nice conversation. We really had a nice time at the reception and I talked with a lot of interesting ex-New Jerseyans.
Enjoying the food at the reception
The end of the evening showed a beautiful sunset
All things have to come to an end and we saw this beautiful sunset over the Hudson River as we were leaving the mansion for the evening. I love the Hudson River Valley in the Spring.
The “Evening Hours Tour of Decorated Staatsburgh”:
In 2023, the mansion was decorated to the hilt for the Christmas holiday season. Even though in real life, the family would have been in New York City for the Christmas and Winter season, the house was decorated with each room having its own decorations and trees.
According some of the grandchildren, the mansion was open for the Christmas holiday season and the family celebrated the holidays. I visited the mansion during the “Evening Hours” event where the mansion was open for a self-guided tour of the house and you could see the decorations at your own pace. There was music performed by the Hyde Park String Quartet in the formal Dining Room.
Staatsburgh (The Mills Mansion) when I arrived for the tour in 2023.
I toured the house with a group of visitors who had never seen the mansion before so there was a lot of interest in the history of the home and the people that lived there. Ever since the “Gilded Age” came out, the interest in these homes has increased and this evening event was sold out. Since I am a member, I was able to sneak into the first self-guided tour at 6:00pm.
The stairs to the second floor of the Mills Mansion.
The first stop was in the Library where it was reported that the family did have a Christmas tree for a Christmas celebration in the house.
The Christmas tree in the Library.
The Library
The painting of General Montgomery in the Library.
I moved onto the main Hallway and entrance to the mansion which was the original part of the house. This was until Ruth Livingston Mills expanded the house in the late 1800’s to its present size.
The main Foyer of the mansion in the front of the house with the Christmas tree.
The Christmas tree in the Main entrance of the mansion.
The fireplace in the foyer/hallway with a picture of Ruth Mill’s mother.
Ogden Mill’s portrait in the foyer.
Another display in the foyer leading to the Dining Room.
The front and back parlor of the old part of the mansion was used as a Living Room for Ladies to relax while their husbands stayed in the Dining Room to talk and smoke.
The Holding Room decorated for the holidays. This is where guests would wait to come in for dinner.
The Hyde Park Quartet was playing the night of the “Evening Hours” at the Mills Mansion.
The Dining Room table set for a feast.
The Tapestry on display on the wall.
The other angle of the Dining Room table.
The fireplace in the Dining Room.
The Dining Room could not work without the Kitchen and the Butler Pantry to supply the Dining Room with the things that it needs.
The Butler’s Pantry with all the holiday dishes prepared for the Dining Room.
The Dumbwaiter from the lower level kitchen.
The China and Silver for the Dining Room along with the desserts that would be served at the end of the holiday feast.
Once I left the Dining Room, we toured the back of the first floor where Ruth Mills had her office and both her and Ogden’s bedrooms.
Ruth’s office where she would run the estate. The dollhouse displayed in the office was very detailed. After that, I visited Ruth’s bedroom which was fit for a Queen. Ogden’s was right next door as was Victorian tradition that the couple had separate rooms. They had three children so there was no problem in that department.
Ruth’s bedroom
Ruth’s Bedroom
Once I visited the upstairs bedrooms, I visited the gift shop on my way out. The whole tour took about an hour to see all the decorations. The volunteers had done a wonderful job with the decorations of the house and it was nice to see them especially the Dining Room.
When I left in the evening, the house was ablaze with light and looked festive from the outside.
All of these can be seen on the organization’s website.
It was another great tour in 2023.
History of the Mansion:
(From the museum website)
In 1792, Morgan Lewis, the third Governor of New York, purchased an estate covering of about 334 acres and commissioned the construction of a colonial-style house on the site of the present mansion. In 1832, the first house was destroyed by fire, said to be the act of arson committed by disgruntled tenant farmers.
The current home, originally built in 1832 and greatly expanded in the 1890’s, the Mills Mansion (also known as Staatsburgh) is emblematic of the great country estates built in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to house America’s wealthiest families.
Staatsburgh is a New York State Historic Site located within the boutonnieres of Mills-Norrie State Park. It is an elegant example of the great estates built by America’s financial and industrial leaders during the Gilded Age.
A 25 room Greek Revival structure was built on the site in 1832 by Morgan Lewis and his wife, Gertrude Livingston, replacing an earlier house that had burned down. This second house was inherited by Ruth Livingston Mills, wife of noted financier and philanthropist Ogden Mills.
In 1895, Mr. and Mrs. Mills commissioned the prestigious New York City architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White to remodel and enlarge their Staatsburgh home. After the completion in 1896, the house was transformed into a Beaux-Arts mansion of 65 rooms and 14 bathrooms. Its exterior was embellished with balustrades, pilasters, floral swags and a massive portico. The rooms were furnished with elaborately carved and gilded furniture, fine oriental rugs, silk fabrics and a collection of art objects from Europe, ancient Greece and the Far East.
In 1938, the house and 192 acres were given to the State of New York by Gladys Mills Phipps, the daughter of Ruth and Ogden Mills. The estate is now operated by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. In 1988, the Friends of Mills Mansion were organized to support the preservation and educational work at the site.
(Friends of the Mills Mansion Website)
Design:
The outside of the mansion features a massive portico, balustrades, pilasters and floral festoons. The central part of the mansion is layered into a basement, three floors and an attic. In the north and south wings, there is a sub basement, a basement and two floors. Ceilings in the older part of the building dating prior to the enlargement (the first floor of the central part) are about 14 feet high, whereas the ceilings of the later construction (first floor of the north and south wings) can be about 18 feet high. The interior of the building is decorated in French styles of the 17th and 18th century. However, some architectural elements of the previous home have been preserved in the process.
Preservation:
The Mills Mansion poses several challenges to preservation: On the outside, a gray sprayed concrete finish which was added later as a preservation measure need to be removed and replaced with a more suitable surface treatment. At the same time, the decorative cornice and many decorative elements need to be either restored or replaced. On the inside of the building, wall paint and furnishings fabrics are in need of replacement, marble and wooden surfaces need to be cleaned and the objects of the mansion’s collection need to be conserved.
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday: 11:00am-6:00pm/Closed on Sunday and Monday
Admission: Free
My review on TripAdvisor:
New York School of Interior Design at 170 East 70th Street
I came across the Gallery of the New York School of design when walking the Upper East Side for my project, ‘MywalkinManhattan.com’ when covering the lower part of the Upper East Side.
The entrance to the Gallery
The New York School of Interior Design was displaying their Senior projects as most the college galleries I visited were doing at this time (this takes place between May and June around graduation time). It was interesting to see how the seniors at the college reused space in old buildings for new purposes. The seniors use their creativity to recreate these spaces. It is the student’s project to take a space and redesign it for a new purpose.
The entrance sign to the gallery
We had done similar projects in college but did not have the computer technology that students do today and they really went above and beyond the things we did back then. You can take this project into 3-D if you want and how real it looks. These kids are so talented that their creativity reminds me of us when we were in school. If only we had what they have today.
The Student Projects line the walls
Take time to look at the detail work and space design of each project. Some of the students even include samples of fabrics and stone/wood work that will be used for the surfaces.
The Gallery is located on the Upper East Side in the back of the school’s building on the first floor. The admission is free and the Gallery is open when the school is open. There are only two shows a year. You just have to show your ID to get into the galleries.
The student project along the walls
The student project along the walls
What I like about the museum is that you get to see the student creativity and how they imagine the space will be designed. The use of color and shape play a roll in all the designs. It looks like the students get to choose their own space to design.
The best part is the you get to go in for free with you ID and just enjoy the show and see the students creativity.
History of the Gallery/Museum at the College:
The New York School of Design’s gallery presents two public exhibits yearly on design and architecture. Exhibitions have included ‘Paris in the Belle Epoque’, rare photographs from the years 1880-1914; Perspective on Perspective, an exploration of artistic technique; ‘The Great Age of Fairs; London, Chicago, Paris, St. Louis’, selective coverage from the first World’s Fair in 1851 to the last in 1904; ‘Venice’s Great Canal’, architectural drawings of the buildings along the famous thoroughfare; ‘Stanford White’s New York’, a survey of that classicist’s many metropolitan buildings and ‘Vanishing Irish Country Houses’, a look into the preservation crisis facing these not infrequently grand structures.
The gallery’s Thursday-evening lectures have included ‘Palladio’s Villas’; ‘Beaux-Arts New York’ and a survey of the Grands Projects undertaken in Paris during the tenure of French President Francois Mitterrand.
Open: Sunday-Monday Closed/Tuesday-Saturday: 11:00am-5:00pm-See website when open.
Admission: Free
My review on TripAdvisor:
The Hunter College Museum-The Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Gallery at 132 East 68th Street
I visited this wonderful little gallery on the main campus of Hunter College on the Upper East Side of Manhattan on my project, “MywalkinManhattan.com”. It is an interesting, small gallery that exhibits more fringe artists and collections. The best part of the gallery is that it is not overwhelming like the bigger museums in the City and you can see the whole gallery in about an hour or a little more (See my review on TripAdvisor).
A former exhibition was: Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A. is an interesting look at the Los Angeles based queer Chicanx artists between the late 1960’s and early 1990’s and is the first of its kind to excavate histories of experimental art practice, collaboration and exchange by a group of artists in Los Angeles (Hunter College Gallery).
The Axis Mundo Exhibition
Currently the museum is hosting the BFA Final Projects and there is a combination of video, paintings and photography to choose from. There is some interesting sculpture work by some of the graduating seniors so take some time in the afternoon to visit the gallery.
The Axis Mundo Exhibition
I visited the Gallery again in March of 2021, when the campus open after COVID rules lifted. The exhibition being shown was entitled “The Black Index”, a series of Black artists were being featured.
“The Black Index” features the works of artists Dennis Delgado, Alicia Henry, Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle, Titus Kaphar, Whitfield Lovell and Lava Thomas. The artists included in The Black Index build upon the tradition of Black self-representation as an antidote to colonialist images. Using drawing, perform, performance, printmaking, sculpture and digital technology to transform the recorded image, these artists question our reliance on photography as a privileged source for documentary objectivity and understanding. Their works offer an alternative practice-a Black Index-that still serves as a finding aid for information about Black subjects, but also challenges viewers desire for classification (Hunter Gallery website).
Artist Alicia Henry’s work “Analogan III”
The works in The Black Index make viewers aware of their own expectations of Black figuration by interrupting traditional epismologies of portraiture through unexpected and unconventional depictions. These works image the Black body through a conceptual lens that acknowledges the legacy of Black containment that is always present in viewing strategies. The approaches used by Delgado, Henry, Hinkle, Kaphar, Lovell, and Thomas suggest understandings of Blackness and the racial terms of our neo-liberal condition that counter legal and popular interpretations and in turn offer a paradigmatic shift within Black visual culture (Hunter Gallery website).
“The Black Index” works (Hunter Gallery)
The nice part of these galleries are that it takes about 45 minutes to view the whole exhibition.
The BFA Art Show at the Hunter College Galleries
In the Spring 2025, I stopped into the galleries to visit the Undergraduate show, CODA.
The students featured in the show
The front galleries
The entrance to the main gallery
This piece is called “Flushed Toast”
Then in the main part of the gallery, there were a few pieces of yarn work that I thought were very interesting.
The works made of acrylic yarn by artist Demi Artemisa Espinoza
Artist Demi Artemisa Espinoza works
My favorite work in the show ‘Smiling Cheek to Cheek’
In the middle of the gallery, there were interesting modern sculptures.
The middle gallery
This was quite unique
Paintings in the show
Video works from student artist Aviella Holle
Video Artist Aviella Holle
The undergraduates in this Art program did an excellent job and I thought the works were very original.
The History of the Berth and Karl Leubsdorf Gallery:
(From the Hunter College Art Galleries website)
The Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Gallery focuses on presenting historical and scholarly exhibitions and programming that provide new scholarship on important and often under-represented artists and art movements. Located on the Hunter College’s main campus, the gallery also hosts the BFA degree exhibitions each semester.
The Hunter College Art Galleries, under the auspices of the Department of Art and Art History, have been a vital aspect of the New York cultural landscape since their inception over a quarter of a century ago. The galleries provide a space for critical engagement with art and pedagogy, bringing together historical scholarship, contemporary artistic practice and experimental methodology. The galleries are committed to producing exhibitions, events and scholarship in dialogue with the intellectual discourse generated by the faculty and students at Hunter and serve as an integral extension to the department’s academic programs.
Visiting a Museum: The Unique, Unusual, Obscure and Historical 